Avoid becoming a victim of Credit Card Fraud

Credit Card fraud is on the rise, As part of our "Internet Safety" tips series, we are suggesting certain steps that can help you avoid being a victim of Credit Card fraud.

The first step to prevent your credit card from being misused is to not let your card fall into the hands of fraudsters. There are many tutorials/how-to's on the internet on credit card fraud that suggest..



"..be on the lookout for houses where the houseowners are on a vacation and have their house locked down but left their mailbox unprotected where the banks will send them their credit card."

This seems to be the most popular method of getting hold of other's credit card. So, take the hint! NEVER leave your mailbox unprotected, take steps to ensure the privacy of your mailbox.

According to this article in BBC..

..A fraudulent card transaction takes place every eight seconds and cloning is the biggest type of credit card fraud.

Cloning (also popularly known as 'skimming') can happen in seconds. So, Whenever using your credit card on malls, resturants and hotels etc., request that the the card is swiped in front of you, Don't let your card out of your sight and pick up all receipts. To pick up more tips, you should also read this article on BBC on How credit cards get cloned

Extra care needs to be taken if you use Credit Card to buy on the Internet. Sure, It's so convenient to use the credit card to buy online, but remember that there are other ways to pay for your purchases for eg. "Cash on delivery" for instance. Use your card on well known and reputed sites, also make sure that the site is using SSL.

You are adviced not to use your card on public cafe's, computers with public access as they could be running malicious programs(called keyloggers) to steal your personal information.

The last tip is to use paypal for online purchases, PayPal is the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online, Pay without revealing your credit card or bank information. Now many people like you, use paypal instead of using credit cards.

MyBlogLog Widget for Blogger

The MyBlogLog Recent Readers Widget by MyBlogLog.com ( now owned by Yahoo! ) is not just popular on Blogger blogs, but its a favorite amongst other bloggers too. Recently the widget has been given a cosmetic change to make it look graphically appealing. I guess it does look good. The colors of the widget are also customizable.

The widget will help you create an online community of admirers and fans of your blog. The more people join your community, the more likely you are to attract traffic to your blog.

The address of your community on MyBlogLog will be like http://mybloglog.com/buzz/community/_________ ( you can have a keyword of your choice in the blank space)

It's easy to add a blog or site to your MyBlogLog profile. First, you need to get a Yahoo! Id. Most people already have it and if you don't you can always get a free account from http://www.yahoo.com

On your profile page, click Add Blog/Site I Author.

You will be taken to a page on which you can add the details of your blog or website. Fill out the details and your blog will be added(the screenshot of your site will be added automatically).

Once your site is added to your profile, the next step is to create the widget for your blog. Your blog should be listed under "My Sites and Services", It will also have a link labelled "Widget" beside your blog. Clicking the "Widget" link will take you to the page where you can customize the color of your widget

The textbox labelled "Your Code", generates the widget code that you need to copy to your blog template(preferrably on your sidebar). XML blogger users read the post on How to add HTML or JavaScript into blogger

Here's a live demo of the MyBlogLog Recent Readers Widget on BlogThings Labs and Why not join our community, Right Now?

Attract traffic using Blog TopSites

Joining Blog TopSites are one of the ways to bring traffic(Free!) to your blog. It takes just a bit of effort on your part to get going. Generally, you will need to register with the site and get your blog approved. Once approved you get your personalized code block that you need to add to your blog. This code will help visitors of your blog to vote for your blog. The more votes you get, the higher you climb on the list and are more likely to get more visitors.

Here's a small list of Blog Topsites where you can register your blog :

http://topsites.blogflux.com/
http://www.topbloglists.com/
http://www.blogelites.com/
http://blog505.com/
http://topblogsites.net/
http://www.topblog.ws/
http://www.blogista.net/
http://topsites.technoized.com/blog
http://blogsites.in/
http://www.stateyourblog.com/
http://www.blogranking.us/
http://www.blogsontop.com/
http://www.topblogarea.com/
http://www.blogrankings.com/
http://www.top100bloggers.com/

Technorati Widget for Blogger

Technorati.com is a collection of large number of blogs and is visited by people all over the world looking for blogs to browse. Your objective should be to get visitors from Technorati.com to visit your blog.

The first step in this process would be to join Technorati and go through the "Claiming your Blog" process. You are more likely to attract more visitors, if your blog is ranked high on Technorati. So get the Technorati Widget and request your visitors to vote for your blog.

Here's how you get your widget. Sign into http://www.technorati.com/signup [Opens in a New Window] with your user id and password.

In your account area, Click on the link labelled "Favorites" on the Technorati navigation bar. On the next screen, Under the sidebar heading "Ins and Outs", find the link to your favorite button, where it says :

"Buttons: Help Technorati members favorite your blog with a button."

If you have added multiple blogs to Technorati, you will have to select a blog from the combo box to generate the code for that blog. The page generates three different code blocks. choose the one that suits your page and copy the code and paste into your template(Classic Templates users). XML blogger users read the post on How to add HTML or JavaScript into blogger.

Feedjit Widget for Blogger

Feedjit.com offers 4 widgets for bloggers and webmasters.

The most popular feedjit widget(which you may have seen on other blogs already) is the "Live Traffic Feed" Widget.

If you are a Blogger Layouts(XML Blogger) or TypePad user, the readymade widget on the site will install the code on your blog in a few clicks. Other blogs and websites will have to copy-paste the code from the site into their template.

Creative Commons License for Blogger

Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."

To get the creative commons license for your blog go to http://creativecommons.org [ Opens in a New Window ]. On the top of the page, click "License you work" link to continue. On the next screen you can select the licensing options for your blog.

After you select your license you can choose a graphic for the license and the HTML code will be generated on the page.

Classic templates users of blogger can copy-paste the HTML code into their template. XML Blogger users see this post on How to add HTML/JavaScript to Blogger.

ShoutBox for Blogger

What is cooler than a guestbook, chat and bulletin board? It's a Shoutbox from MyShoutBox.com

This is a feature packed free service for blogs and websites. Here's a list of features that MyShoutBox.com offers

You can add this shoutbox to your blogger blogs after an easy and fast registration process. After Registration you are given a ID/Password, with which you have to login to access your shoutbox management area. Select the link "Code Generation" and set the options for your shoutbox( or leave the default settings, you can always change that later! ) and click "Generate Code".

Classic templates users of blogger can copy-paste the HTML code into their template. XML Blogger users see this post on How to add HTML/JavaScript to Blogger.