Online Shopping: Staying Safe And Avoiding Fraud

A huge number of people now use the internet to shop, and with pretty much anything you could possible want available at your fingertips, it’s not hard to see why. Whether it’s Amazon, eBay, Tesco online or Next, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for.

But with so many people shopping online and sending their credit and debit card details through the internet comes the added risk of fraud and identity theft. Due to this added risk, a large number of people are still unhappy about the idea of sending their personal details over the internet, and you can’t really blame them. Someone using your details to commit credit card fraud (i.e. making large purchases that you can’t pay for) can have a huge impact on the health of your finances in the future, potentially resulting in you having a bad credit rating. So what can we do to help keep ourselves safe and secure when using the internet to shop??

There are a few things you can do to help you stay safe online, so let’s take a quick look at the best of them. Firstly, you should always ensure you’re shopping only on websites you know are secure. To check a websites’ security, you should look for an unbroken key symbol or a padlock symbol in the corner of the browser; this is a sign that the website is secure and can be trusted. If you can’t see either of these, you might want to consider shopping somewhere else. Another sign you can look out for is whether or not the URL prefix changes once you go on to the page where you make payment; secure websites will have a https prefix in place of the usual http. If you can see the https prefix on the payments page, then you’re safe in assuming the site is sending information over a secure sever, and is therefore safe.

You should also try and make sure that all your computer software is up to date and that you install any updates sent to you by your OS provider. Similarly, you shoud make sure you have up to date antivirus and antispyware software installed on your computer to make sure you’re safe.

The last one should be obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people still fall prey to this kind of fraud. Don’t ever reply to emails that request your bank details, personal information or security information. Even if the email appears to be legitimate and from a source you trust, they can often be faked and you should never give out account info to anyone via email, even your bank (who if you think about it should have that information already). If you do receive emails like this, go to your banks website and use the contact information to get in touch with them on the phone. Don’t ever use contact information that is in the email, go to your banks’ website and get it from there. You may also get emails suggesting that they can repair credit or offering you adverse credit cards. Whilst there are some reputable companies offering this sort of service, you’re far better off seeking them out than going through email correspondence.