According to the US Department of Justice statistics at least 17% of Americans have been the victims of credit and debit card fraud with tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent charges. Everyone at the University has a part to play in combating credit card fraud.
Millions of dollars are charged to credit cards at UT campus every year for tuition, books, supplies, clothing, sporting event tickets, food, university apparel, and more. Thousands of people entrust us with their financial identity by handing us a credit or debit card, giving us credit card numbers over the phone, or through online transactions. With this ability to easily collect funds from customers comes a great responsibility to protect their financial and personal identity. There are severe financial and reputation consequences for the University if we don’t. In order to secure this vital information from fraud, theft, and abuse, a few basic guidelines must be followed.
If your office or department accepts credit cards for payments of any kind, here is how you can help combat credit and debit card fraud:
- Protect the cardholder’s data (payment card account number or related information) at all times.
- Don’t write down or share payment card account information unless absolutely necessary.
- Do not leave papers containing cardholder data on desktops.
- Lock all doors, cabinets, and drawers with papers containing cardholder data.
- Shred written down or printed account information in a crosscut shredder as soon as possible.
- Do not ask for the CVC or CVV code (the 3-4 digit number on the back of the card) when the customer is present to verify their own card.
- Follow all departmental policies to protect merchant receipt copies that have payment card account numbers on them and destroy them when no longer needed.
- Do not request that someone send a credit card number by email. Email is not a secure means of communication.
- Do not scan documents containing a credit card number without first securely erasing or redacting the number.
- Do not share passwords with others, not even with managers or IT personnel.
If you have questions about credit card security, please contact your campus business office, the Treasurer’s Office, or the UTSA Information Security Office through the OIT HelpDesk at 865-974-9900.
Thank you for your continued attention in this matter.
Tags: information technology, security