Several Swagbucks members have expressed concerns recently about the security of Swagbucks accounts and credit cards linked to our new Swagbucks Local service, which conveniently allows you to earn SB while shopping and dining locally at participating stores and restaurants.

We can assure you that Swagbucks Local securely handles any credit card numbers submitted for linking by our members.

We have implemented bank level security for all linked credit card numbers. This security utilizes 128-bit SSL encryption and MD5 encryption for card protection and is rated with the Payment Card Industry’s highest level of security, PCI Compliance Level 1. In effect, it is the “gold standard” of online credit card security.

Furthermore, despite rumors and anecdotal reports to the contrary, we can 100% assure our members that linking your credit card on Swagbucks Local does not result in any unauthorized charges to the card. Indeed, the Swagbucks Local card-linking function only collects the credit card number itself, not the name on the card, the CVV security code, the billing Zip Code, or the card expiration date. Therefore, it would be impossible for a fraudster to use the credit card number submitted to Swagbucks to make any unauthorized purchases, since the fraudster wouldn’t have other necessary information like the name on the card, the CVV security code, the billing Zip Code, or the card expiration date, all of which are typically required for online purchases.

The cards linked to Swagbucks Local are included in your Account information on Swagbucks.com, but the information shown is merely the type of card (Visa, MC, etc.) and the last four digits of the card number, and not any additional information. Not the full card number, nor the name on the card, the CVV security code, the billing Zip Code or the card expiration date. Therefore, again, it would be impossible for a fraudster to use that very limited information about linked cards to make unauthorized charges, even if someone had access to your Swagbucks account.

It is always frustrating when mysterious unauthorized charges appear on someone’s credit card and easy to speculate or jump to incorrect conclusions about how the charges originated. But we can assure you that we have investigated this matter and have seen no evidence whatsoever that any unauthorized charges resulted from a credit card being linked to Swagbucks Local or associated with a Swagbucks account.

The success of our program depends entirely on the confidence and satisfaction of our members. Accordingly, we take our members’ privacy and security very seriously, and we trust that the foregoing factual information directly from Swagbucks about our industry-leading security for linked credit card numbers will put to rest any unfounded rumors or speculation.

Thank you,

Team Swagbucks