Check Your Credit Card Bills!!!  

Please, review your credit card statements very closely. I recently had a small charge ($80) appear on my card. Had I not looked at each transaction very closely, I would have never noticed that someone got ahold of my credit card information and used it.

Usually I don't check my credit card bill to thoroughly. I often have a look at them online a few times a month so that I'm not too surprised when the bill comes in, but I just look at the total amount owing, not the details of the transactions.

But since resolving to take control of my finances this year, I started checking my credit card bills very closely. And low and behold I found a charge that I didn't make for $80! After a few phone calls to my credit card company, and then to the company that charged me, it turns out that it is for a long distance call that was made from Brazil to the US, using my credit card. I live in Canada and have never been to Brazil. Someone got ahold of my credit card number, expiry date, and the 3-digit code on the back of my card. I canceled my card and the charge has been reversed.

This experience got me thinking, how many other charges have ever appeared on my card that I didn't make. I must be an idiot for not checking more closely before.