Fraud

I read about fraud all the time in the news, be it online or in print, but its surreal when my friend told me that she was a victim of credit card fraud. The bank called her asking if she was in Russia as they had detected transactions made with her credit card number there. She messaged me asking how the hacker managed to get her number. Its either a) malware on her PC, b) bank lost her number, c) an E-commerce retailer (whom she bought something from) got compromised or d) an unscrupulous service provider (eg. waitress) who took down her number while swiping her card to process payment.

How do you avoid falling victim to credit card fraud? Don't own a credit card. Seriously, credit cards are convenient but not foolproof.