Saturday, November 19, 2011

Essential Tips for Safe Online Shopping

Essential Tips for Safe Online Shopping

By Marc Eagle


Online shopping has become second nature for many people and it's easy to understand why: it's quick and convenient and many products are a lot cheaper than in brick and mortar stores. But hackers are scamming people on a daily basis so here's a few tips to help you protect your identity and credit card while shopping online:

Websites For Shopping

Only shop at secure websites.
Advance encrypting technology is crucial when trying to protect data online. Without it, you credit card number and any other kind of information you input in the merchant's site is at the mercy of insecure data connections and can be easily intercepted by hackers. So read around the web page a bit and make sure they use some kind of data encrypting technology for the ordering process.
Read the "Terms and conditions" page carefully.
This is a very important step that many people unfortunately ignore. Reading the terms and conditions carefully can save you a lot of headache in the future. And keep in mind one thing: the information people don't want you to see is usually written at the bottom of the page with small characters. And that's exactly the info you should be investigating in detail before deciding to make a purchase.
Make sure you know the exact amount of the shipping costs before ordering.
Many unethical site owners tend to hide this info from their costumers and overcharge them on shipping costs. Don't fall into this trap and make sure you know exactly what you will pay for shipping (or if shipping costs are entirely or partially supported by the merchant).
Use a debit card whenever possible.
Debit cards are safer when shopping online as it's easier to protect yourself against fraudulent credit charges. Many people had to close their credit lines as their cards were constantly subjected to wrongful charges.
Never disclose more than you have to.
This is a good tip no matter what you do online whether it's shopping or just having a conversation in a chat room. Make sure you only give out minimal information about yourself, your family, your home or income. Confidence tricksters will stop at nothing in order to fool you into disclosing information that could potentially turn you into a victim.
Keep your password secure.
Passwords are more important than many people think. A compromised password means a lot of headaches, sending emails, and making phone calls in order to make sure hackers don't empty your bank account. Make sure you chose a secure password (123456 is not a good idea), and write it down on a piece of paper.
Be careful when clicking links in emails.
It's easy for hackers to clone a reputed website and then send out phishing emails in order to trick people into giving them sensitive information. So when receiving an email with a commercial announcement make sure you type the URL manually rather than clicking the link in the email.
These are just a few basic tips. Remember that crooks come up with new methods of scamming people every day. So it's common sense to use your intuition when shopping online. If you sense something's wrong just leave that certain website.

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