By way of an example, as I (I think) my card was copied in China – checking the statements online might not have been a possible solution as China blocks many sites, so it’s possible I might not have been able to check anything. Also given this BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8458150.stm) it might not be wise to check your accounts from China – or other countries which routinely monitor internet access.

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Keep a regular check on your account statements while you travel. If you have occasinal internet access while your away, you mgiht be able to check the statements once every couple of days (or more often). Spotting things early can stop more problems down the line. Some banks allow you to set up text or email alerts when your card is used.

Don’t use your primary bank or credit card. If you do and they clean out the account or max it out how are you going to pay for things? Consider using a debit ‘gift card’ or visa/mastercard ‘travel money card’. but check the charges. With this system you only need to have a limited balance which you can top up when you need to.

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Yeah – the second bill was full of those kinda small transactions – couple of cents here, couple of cents there. The minority added up to not much, but a few were several hundred each. Needless to say, I don’t want to give several hundred of my hard earned cash to a some criminals – petty or organised.

@Sofia

I had no idea a blocked card could be used either. I had assumed, until the very end of last year, that a blocked card was exactly that – blocked in the sense of unusable by anyone. Anyhow, I have the corrected statements to prove my misconceptions wrong! Lesson learnt!

But as I said in the post – quick and prompt action took care of the problem and, thankfully, this case didn’t ruin the holiday.

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