Travellers ‘should be as vigilant with their cards abroad as at home’

People taking a holiday in Thailand and other destinations are urged to take good care of their credit and debit cards.

Holidaymakers are being urged to be as vigilant with their credit and debit cards abroad as they would be at home.

This advice comes from Dan Moore, senior researcher at Which? Money, who said that in countries where chip and pin is not used, getting hold of a plastic card is like “gold dust”.

“Be aware that your holiday will be ruined if you don’t apply the same cautiousness that you would at home.”

He went on to say that in countries that do not use the chip and pin system, debit and credit cards can be used by just forging a signature.

While on holiday, Brits can sometimes drop their guard when using cash machines as they are not used to the foreign systems and this is another area that people need to be conscious of, he added.

Figures published in July by life assistance company CPP revealed people taking a holiday in Thailand, as well as other destinations such as Greece and Portugal, had experienced a rise in instances where credit or debit cards had been stolen.