Always cash but card on the internet. I've have friends that have had their cards cloned in some dodgy places. .
That happened to me. Fortunately the bank picked it up (card had been cloned somehow...still don't know how) and used miles away, twice and must have been flagged. However that's not the story...
The bank rang me wiht an automated call "we think you have been a victim of fraud...etc" and - I ignored it as I thought it was one of those spam fraud phone calls. Hours later it rang again, same message, ignored it again
so the card could well, by then, have been travelling the globe!
However I check my balance on-line nearly every day, and after that second call decided to check anyway, and nothing untoward showed up. However - something I had not done before - I clicked on "recent transactions that haven't been deducted" and, hey ho, there were two which weren't mine + a £2 charge from Tesco for card checking (what't that?? anyway it wasn't my check) so immediately rang the bank, got through after 45 mins wait
, apologised profusely for ignoring their calls (they understood), got the two purchaes cancelled and refunded, the card cancelled and a new one arrived two days later.
Point being the system worked, but surely there's a better way for a "real" bank to contact the customer to ask if recent purcheses are genuine??
Meanwhile, I learn that the bank will flag up suspicion if you type your password or pin number too slowly/quickly (never mind keep getting it wrong) than normal which I find reassuring. I think?