By Aimee Chanthadavong

Visa has launched a website aimed to help educate consumers and retailers about the different types of fraud that exist and how to avoid them.

VisaSecuritySense.com.au provides information and advice on the different kinds of fraud that exist, how to be alert to situations that might be fraudulent and how to prevent them, as well as other safety tips related to the daily use of cards.

Visa Australia and New Zealand’s director of country risk management Ian McKindley told RetailBiz both consumers and retailers need to be more vigilant about online security.

“We have found that most Australians follow the guidelines,” he said.

“They don’t store sensitive account details like PINs, account numbers and passwords on their mobile phones and they do their best to avoid easy passwords. But the first line of defence online is to be well informed and so we launched Visa Security Sense to keep people aware of the risks of online fraud.”

The introduction comes after the credit card company found that nearly one-third of Australians share their birthdate on social media sites, a place that is a rich and valuable source of personal data and often an easy target for cyber criminals.

“The more interactions we have over social media, the more at risk we are,” McKindley said.

“Today’s cyber criminals see social networking sites as rich and valuable sources of personal data. They use crafty schemes to loot private information, and piece by piece they gather enough data to raid your identity and online accounts.

“People need to be alert to online fraud and take steps to protect themselves. This means keeping a lid on sharing personal information like birthdates and not ‘friending’ strangers.”

McKindley warned retailers, just like consumers, they need to be aware of what’s happening in their business in order to protect it.

“There are a few golden rules for retailers, like knowing the who, what and where of your sensitive data,” he said.

A list of tips for retailers can be found here.