Online Shopping – Safety, Privacy, and Benefits

Holidays or not, online shopping is fast becoming the main shopping choice for many people. People prefer online stores for their shopping needs over the brick-and-mortar stores for a variety of reasons - discounted price, quick price comparisons, unavailability of desired items in the retail stores, 24 hours shopping convenience, etc. Whatever the reason is, before you jump into the online shopping bandwagon, you must consider a few things to avoid frustration and monetary loss.

Before you pull out your credit card to buy an item at an unbelievably reduced price, think about the reasons why the merchant is throwing out his profits. Maybe it is a total scam and they want your credit card number to rip you off. Stay with the big online shopping sites. Sites that are publicly traded or reputable private companies do not spam your email inbox with unsolicited advertisements. If you find a shopping site, advertised in a spam e-mail, that sells $100 software for $10, you can bet that it is a scammer's site.

Ask your friends about their experiences with online shopping sites to select sites that are worthy of your hard earned money. Another approach is to use a search engine like Google to search for items you plan to purchase. When you use Google to search for an item, you will get advertised and non-advertised sites offering your items at different prices. Check out a few sites before you decide to make a purchase.

Many sites like bizrate.com or nexttag.com offers price comparisons, reviews, and shopping site ratings. Use these sites to read reviews and to do a price comparisons. Sites like techbargains.com publishes information on latest bargains, coupons, and discounts offered by various online shopping sites. Monitoring this type of sites provides opportunities to get great bargains. One comparison shopping site, buysafeshopping.com, provides information on qualified shopping sites that have gone through a screening process for merchant's identity, online sales experience, and the ability to deliver purchased items.

If you have to shop with an unknown online merchant, check for their telephone number at their Web site. Contact someone at the merchant's physical location and talk to them. Ask them about their privacy and refund policy. If you cannot find a phone number or the phone number goes to a voice mail, instead to a live person, go shopping somewhere else. There are dozens, if not hundreds, good online merchants for any items you want to buy.

At the online checkout counter, you have to use a credit card to pay. When you use your credit card, make sure that your credit card and personal information are sent using encryption to avoid identity thieves from intercepting your information for unauthorized use.

To check for encryption, look for https in the URL. It is perfectly safe if the site has http in its URL for all pages except the order page - the page where you enter your credit card and other personal information like address, etc. Even if a site is encrypted, it can still be a identity thiefs site. Look out for tale-tell signs like numbers at the beginning of the URL. Avoid public computers at cafes, airports, etc. for your purchases. The danger is that identity thieves can install key-loggers to log your key presses before they are encrypted.

Always use a credit card to pay for your online purchases. Most credit cards have online purchase protection. If something goes wrong, you can always call your credit card company and dispute the charge. You do not have to pay for your disputed charges till the dispute is resolved. Federal laws limit your liability to $50 in charges should someone uses your card fraudulently. Never use a debit card. Debit cards pull money from your bank account as soon as the transaction is made. If you are ripped off or suspect that you have become a victim of identity theft, it may take months before you get your money back, if you ever see it again.

Despite all the cautionary warnings, online shopping is safer than shopping offline. You do not have to take a shower, dress up, drive and mingle with other shoppers and touch anything in the store for online shopping. How safe can it be? If you are careful, you can guard yourself against identity and credit card thefts by following safety tips discussed above. When you are using a credit card in an offline venue, there is a person, such as the sales person, who processes the transaction and this person can also see your private information. In online transactions, the middle man is eliminated.

If you do your research, watch for signs of fraud and only use credit cards for your purchases, online shopping provides more benefits over offline shopping.

Identity Theft Secrets

BoNY 4.5 Million Consumer's Data Loss

View Original Article Sat, 31 May 2008 14:40:51 -0500
This just in from the "when will they ever learn" file. The Bank of New York (BNY Mellon) waited 8 weeks after the Connecticut legal requirement to inform the public of this very serious data loss...

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BoNY 4.5 Million Consumer's Data Loss [Flickr]

View Original Article Sat, 31 May 2008 14:31:57 -0500

IdTheftSecrets posted a photo:

The Bank of New York (BNY Mellon) waited 8 weeks
after the Connecticut legal requirement to inform the
public of this very serious data loss involving personal
information which was unencrypted.

Discover the Shocking Truth to Identity Theft

Identity Theft Hits Lifelock CEO From His Own Ads

View Original Article Mon, 26 May 2008 22:29:31 -0500
In response to dares posed by the CEO of Lifelock, an Arizona firm which has run ads featuring his Social Security Number (SSN), an instance of identity theft fraud was successfully perpetrated...

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Identity Theft - Google News

DMX Charged with Identity Theft - San Francisco Chronicle

View Original Article Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:25:33 GMT

San Francisco Chronicle

DMX Charged with Identity Theft San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 11 hours ago The star -- real name Earl Simmons -- was charged in Arizona on Tuesday with one count of theft and one count of stealing someone else's identity. ...

Former bank teller pleads guilty to identity theft - Ft. Washington Montgomery Newspapers

View Original Article Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:05:49 GMT

Former bank teller pleads guilty to identity theft Ft. Washington Montgomery Newspapers, PA - 2 hours ago A former teller at the Lafayette Hill branch of the Wachovia Bank has admitted his involvement in an identity theft ring that stole $43000 from bank ...

Facts About Identity Theft - American Chronicle

View Original Article Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:27:59 GMT

Facts About Identity Theft American Chronicle, CA - 18 hours ago Identity theft is the quickest growing crime in the nation. It is said to be the number one fraud crime at this time. The facts of how widespread this crime ...

Yahoo! News Search Results for identity theft

Man gets five years for identity theft (El Paso Times)

View Original Article Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:20:11 GMT
ID theft sentence: EL PASO -- A man was sentenced to the maximum five years in prison for identity theft by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo, the U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday.

Former bank teller pleads guilty to identity theft (The Colonial)

View Original Article Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:29:36 GMT
A former teller at the Lafayette Hill branch of the Wachovia Bank has admitted his involvement in an identity theft ring that stole $43,000 from bank customer accounts.

Identity theft suspect arrested, hit 2 Phoenix Alltel stores (ABC 15 Phoenix)

View Original Article Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:52:00 GMT
Police arrested an identity theft suspect at a Phoenix hotel on Wednesday. Delbert Peck allegedly used false social security numbers to open cellular phone accounts.