Credit card applications require that you provide personal data in order to be approved for a card. The data provided must be used to access your credit report, as well as confirm your identity. With identity fraud being a growing concern, it's increasingly important that such personal data be guarded, and provided only when applicable. Years ago, this would have gone without saying. However, the prospect of applying online for a credit card presents new obstacles when it comes to preventing identity fraud. If you're going to be applying for a credit card, it's important that you familiarize yourself with the safeguards in place to prevent identity fraud.

Identity fraud and identity theft occur when an individual uses another person's personal information to represent themselves as that person, mainly for purposes of theft. A basic form of identity fraud would be a pickpocket using a stolen credit card to make purchases that are then charged to the hapless cardholder. However, in the digital age, identity fraud can take on many forms. Identity thieves can use your personal information to apply for new credit cards, issued in your name, and reflecting on your credit rating. There are number of ways that personal information can be intercepted, ranging from telephone solicitation under a false pretense to hacking into someone's computer with a Trojan horse or backdoor program and viewing the data. However, reputable credit card providers with online applications feature secure settings, making it nearly impossible for your information to be viewed as you transmit it online. It's up to you to make sure you're dealing with a trustworthy site before filling out any online credit card applications.

Fraudulent Credit Card Applications

Many identity thieves employ a practice known as "phishing" in order to gain illegal access to personal information. Phishing entails the construction of a dummy website, designed to have the same façade as a well known and trusted organization. The identify thieves then send out thousands of spam emails claiming to be from the same site. These emails contain some kind of offer, such as pre-approval for a credit card with a high credit limit and low APR, which can be accessed by clicking on a link in the email. The link brings the victim to the dummy site, where they fill out an application, providing all of their personal information to what they think is a well known and trusted organization. In reality, the information is used by the thieves to open accounts in the victim's name.

Despite its widespread practice, phishing is relatively easy to spot, if you follow a few guidelines. Whenever you click on a site's link in an email advertisement, always look at your browser's address bar to make sure you've actually been directed to the site. Just because it looks like the site doesn't mean it is. In addition, remember that all safe sites will provide a secure connection any time sensitive data is to be transmitted. A secure connection is maintained by digital certificates that encode and decode data sent between a browser and a server. When a secure connection is activated, a notification will appear in the browser. The secure connection notification will also provide information regarding the ownership and the integrity of the site. Digital certificates are issued by a third party certificate authority after thoroughly investigating the company and the site. Sites operated by fraudsters will not have a digital certificate, as doing so would require that their information be registered with the certificate authority, which would make them easily traceable. If you attempt to apply online for a card and notice that the site provides no secure connection before asking for your personal data, you should find another provider. Even if the site is legitimate, and not operated by "phishers," the lack of a secure connection leaves your data open to anyone who might be lurking online.