4 Tips to Ensure Safety When Shopping Online

Fraudulent individuals are always waiting to take advantage of gullible online shoppers. Some of the common mistakes that are made are giving too much personal information online, shopping on unsecure websites and exposing your computer to viruses.

Keeping these pitfalls in mind, here are 4 tips to ensure safety when shopping online:

#1: Keep away from suspicious sites

While it isn’t easy to distinguish a secure site from a fake one, certain signs such as a strange web address, too many pop-up windows and poor design can be a dead giveaway. Always look for https:// in the address bar while ensuring that your antivirus is up to date.

#2: Never give your Social Security Number to anyone online

This is a definite no-no. If you are asked for your social security number during the checkout process, please be aware that the site you are visiting is running a scam and that it’s time to bid a hasty retreat.

#3: Change Your Passwords regularly

It isn’t easy to remember all your passwords at a time especially if you are a regular user of the Internet for whatever purpose. But that doesn’t mean you should not change your passwords often or set passwords that are impossible to crack. If you must, store passwords on a secure document but make sure that you do not set simple passwords at all costs.

#4: Use the automatic identity-theft protection offered by credit cards

By virtue of automatic identity-theft protection offered by credit cards, it should be obvious that using a debit card should be your last resort when shopping. What this type of protection does is gives the bank to investigate false charges on the customer’s behalf. So, if you are a regular shopper, ensure that you check your statements regularly, and not only when you get your monthly statement.