Tiffany's Take: Dealing with Fraudulent Credit Card Charges | Ep. 135

• Tiffany introduces her new Tuesday solo format answering listener questions submitted via moneytalkwitht.com/asktiffany or social media.

Someone close to me used my credit card for a fraudulent charge without my permission. What should I do?

• Tiffany explains that filing charges provides the best protection, especially when dealing with credit card companies who may ask if charges were filed before issuing refunds.

• For online theft, file at ic3.gov. For local/in-person fraud, file at your local police department.

If this is someone that is really close to you and you don't care about the relationship... the best thing to do is to go ahead and start criminal charges.

• Immediately notify your financial institution so they can begin their investigation and refund process.

Definitely contact the credit card company or the bank so that way they can start their process and you can start getting your money back.

• Prevent further identity theft by freezing credit at all three bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.

If this person can do something like that to you now, imagine if they got access to any of your other information and what you don't want is someone to buy a whole house or a car or something else in your name.

• Freezing also helps prevent impulsive credit use by requiring deliberate action to unfreeze.

• While freezing credit provides strong protection, identity theft monitoring services offer additional peace of mind.