Safety Strategies for Shopping Online

Credit card fraud seems to be everywhere, and thieves love making use of internet shopping on the internet to steal people's credit card data because of the security it provides. Many consumers think the only option to be secure is to avoid shopping online all together. While that's one way to avoid one's credit card details from getting stolen, it also means it is impossible to shop online again. The online marketplace for products and services is growing at a a rapid pace because consumers are aware that they can easily find the best deals when they shop online. By just not shopping online, you would have lost out on these great deals. This method of avoiding credit card fraud is like deciding never to fly in an airplane again in order to stay away from terrorists. It is true that one wouldn't become a victim in any terrorist plot that involved planes, however it also means having to bear the burden of not being able to fly when traveling. As with everything else that happens in the world, the most important thing is not to escape the problem but to comprehend the issue and implement a smart strategy to minimize the risk of being a victim to fraud with credit cards when shopping online.

Let's first discuss the steps to take if the credit card fraud has already happened. There is no need to panic. Once the cardholder reports that their credit card information is compromised The credit card company will not be held accountable for any fraudulent charges, even for charges made before reporting the credit card information has been stolen. A credit card provider will then shut the card off from further use and issue a new card within one or two weeks however this is an inconvenience most people would prefer not to go through in the event of a possibility.

Next, online shoppers could make use of the Google Safe Browsing Tool to check if an online site is safe to visit, assuming one trusts Google naturally. The tool will tell you whether a website is not safe or not, when Google has last examined it, if the website was involved in any suspicious activity previously, as well as will also inform whether it's associated with any suspicious websites, even if the site itself isn't doing anything suspicious. To see if a website is safe, simply copy and paste "http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=" into the address field on the browser, and then add the url of the site to be visited. For example, to a company's website, just enter "http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=websiteurlhere.com" into the address bar of the browser being used. After entering this address, Google's tool will bring an easy half-page report on whether the website in question is in fact secure or not.

Another level of protection that one can use when purchasing online is to use reputable third party payment methods. Nearly everyone has had the pleasure of using PayPal. They are probably the most widely used 3rd party payment method around the world. They permit users to pay for products and services through them. This means, for instance, that if a buyer purchases a product the item, she isn't directly paying the website that she is shopping on. She is paying the amount due to PayPal after which PayPal reimburses the merchant, this means that the retailer is not able to see her credit card number and the credit card information was never transmitted over the internet during the transaction. It does not matter if the customer shops at one website Amazon gutschein or a hundred websites. As long, as the payment method of a third party was used, credit card information was never transmitted so, that information is not floating around on online at each website a purchase was made. Other third-party payment options that are similar to PayPal are Google Wallet and Amazon Payments.

Armed with this knowledge, online shoppers can make sure the websites they visit are secure to shop at and make sure they do not input sensitive information while making purchases. So, there is no need to pass up every opportunity to save money on shopping online due to fear of credit card information being stolen.

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