1. When handing your card to a clerk or cashier, pay close attention. The card should be swiped through a point of sale terminal or keyboard card reader once, maybe twice. If your card is swiped through an additional reader, the card number may have been stolen.

2. Shop only at trusted sites. Phantom websites appear online all year round. They look legitimate, resembling well-known online retailers. But only do business those you recognize. Established online merchants are best.

3. Unsolicited emails that request sensitive data such as credit card numbers or lead you to a too-good-to-be-true offer are most likely phishing emails. Don’t disclose your information, and don’t click unknown links.

4. Check your credit card statements daily, if possible. Once a week is sufficient. Refute any unauthorized withdrawals or transactions within the time limit stipulated by your bank. For most credit cards, it’s 60 days, and for debit cards the limit can be 30 days or less.

Internet crime schemes steal millions of dollars annually from victims. If you are looking for more helpful tips, the Internet Crime Complaint Center is a great resource. Their site provides preventative measures that help you be more informed prior to making purchases on the Internet.

Holiday schemes will be in full force this year. Charge or purchase wisely.

Robert Siciliano, personal security and identity theft expert contributor to iovation, discusses identity theft in front of the National Speakers Association. (Disclosures)

I commend the National Fraud Reporting Centre (NFRC) for getting the hotline going. The helpline will allow individuals and small businesses to report cyber crime to a central agency, simplifying what would otherwise be a confusing process involving potentially several different government ag encies. A similar effort in the U.S., the Internet Crime Complain Center (IC3), currently allows individuals to file complaints of internet fraud through its website.

In both cases, setting up centralized agencies to manage reports of internet crime allows for greater cooperation among different law enforcement agencies—from local police to state and federal bureaus—so that large-scale operations of identity theft and phishing attacks, for example, can be more easily identified and addressed at the appropriate level. Also, by offering individuals one clear method of reporting internet fraud, as opposed to several, the hope is that more victims and informed third-parties will be inclined to report what they know.

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, because most cyber crimes are committed across national borders, local law enforcement is severely limited in its ability to catch and prosecute individuals who commit such crimes. While continuing efforts are being made to stop these criminals, engaging the public about online fraud trends is a worthwhile step in helping raise awareness and hopefully prevent more people and businesses from becoming victims of Internet crimes.

Establishing programs such as the Action Fraud hotline and the IC3, can also build alliances and partnerships between individuals, groups and businesses that could benefit from sharing fraud information and intelligence. Collaborating with your peers to fight fraud is the basic concept behind iovation’s fraud management system, which provides a shared environment that allows online businesses to benefit from the thousands of additional resources, tools and experiences to better protect themselves from online fraud and abuse.