How to Shop Safely Online
One advantage of online shopping is convenience. With a few mouse clicks, you can skip the traffic jams, avoid the crowds, and easily compare prices to get the best deals. But online shopping is no bargain unless it is also safe and secure.
Although shopping online is actually fairly safe, a few simple precautions can help you avoid serious risks such as fraud, identity theft, or untrustworthy merchants. Why take unnecessary chances? Follow these steps to ensure a safer online shopping experience:
- Shop only with legitimate retailers. Check online retail sites for a street address, and a phone number you can call if you have questions or problems. If you are unsure about the retailer, call them with questions before you place your order. You can also check with the Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.org) to see if other consumers have filed complaints against the merchant, or do an online search to find out what has been written about the company.
- Shop only on secure sites. When shopping online, be sure the URL of any site where you enter financial information begins with https (the "s" stands for "secure"). Also, look for a security icon-such as an unopened lock-somewhere in the browser window. This is a security certificate. Double-click the certificate to make sure the name on the Web address matches the certificate, because Web sites can be faked.
- Use secure passwords. A secure password has at least eight characters and uses an unpredictable mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Never share your password with anyone, not even close friends or family members.
- Don't let retailers store your personal information. Many retail sites offer to keep your personal information on file to make future transactions faster and easier. While this may seem like good customer service, allowing online retailers to store your credit card number and other personal information increases your risk of identity theft.
- Ignore pop-up ads and e-mail offers. Never click on pop-up ads or e-mail messages that offer free gifts or heavily discounted merchandise, because there is a good chance they may conceal viruses or spyware.
- Don't shop over a wireless network. It's not a good idea to shop or conduct other financial transactions over a wireless network, because a nearby thief with a wireless connection could intercept your information and steal your identity. Wait until you are on a secure network that requires you to use a username and password to log on. If you use a wireless network at home, make it secure before using it for online shopping, banking, or other financial transactions.
- Don't shop on public computers. Don't use public computers in libraries or Internet cafés for online shopping or banking, because you can't count on the security of these machines. And anytime you use a public computer, remember to log off completely before you leave.
- Always read the privacy policy. Legitimate online retailers post privacy policies that spell out how they use the information you submit and what steps they take to keep it secure. If you don't see a privacy policy, take your business elsewhere.
- Look for the TRUSTe seal. Another good way to determine whether an online merchant is trustworthy is to check to see if they have earned the TRUSTe seal. TRUSTe is a respected nonprofit organization that monitors companies to make sure they follow their privacy policies. Many approved sites post the TRUSTe logo on their privacy pages, but the only sure way to know if retailers have earned the TRUSTe seal is to look them up at www.truste.org.
- Use secure payment methods. If you pay by credit card, federal law helps to protect you by requiring dispute resolution in case of fraud. If you don't have a credit card, or prefer not to use one online, PayPal offers a secure payment service that also provides some fraud protection. Using debit cards online is risky, because it allows the merchant to take funds directly from your bank account. While some banks do offer anti-fraud protection with their debit cards, check with your bank before you shop to be sure.
- Keep records of all online transactions. Either print out and file the confirmation page, or copy and paste it into an e-mail to yourself and create an e-mail folder where you can store such records.
