According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), identify theft, both online and offline is one of the “fastest-growing crimes in the United States” with the number of reported incidences quadrupling from the year 2000 to 2004. For the majority of identity theft victims the problem has been credit card account hijackings but in other cases it has been much more serious and much more detrimental for the individuals. The FTC estimates that approximately ten million people in the past five years have fallen victim to identity theft in the form of criminals applying for mortgages or credit cards under their names, criminals using the victims’ credit cards and criminals securing utility services. Taken to its extreme, identity theft can destroy an individual’s credit rating, reputation and even erode their sense of comfort and security. Let’s take a brief look at ways to go about protecting your identity when you shop online.

If you are sent unsolicited e-mail from a company that you have shopped with in the past, never click on any links or images in the message. If you do then you are only asking for trouble. If a company sends you an e-mail and wants you to contact them for any reason at all, always open a new browser window and then proceed to type in the web address of the business and log in to your shopping account to find out what the situation is. Realize that criminals sometime send e-mails under the guise of legitimate businesses to obtain the personal information of its customers. You might even want to give the business a call if an e-mail appears suspicious. It would be a good idea to find an excellent spam filter to ensure that phishing e-mail messages do not have the opportunity to reach you at all.

Make sure that your Social Security number remains as private as it possibly can be. When you open a new account at a website you wish to shop at, do not allow any part of your SSN to be used as your identification number or your account number. As well keep all passwords to any of your bank accounts or online accounts private. Don’t leave around a piece of paper on your desk with the sensitive information.

Always keep all of your credit card information on CD-RWS as opposed to on the hard drive of your computer. Never leave the discs in a drive when the computer is not in use. Instead save the CDs in a safe, secure place that only you are aware of. If it is necessary for you to save sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers on the hard drive then install a program such as “Password Agent” to help ensure safety and security. Password Agent has both a free version, which is limited but also an unlimited version that costs $20.00

Whenever you make an online credit purchase, always carefully review all of your charges to ensure that you definitely did buy what the records are showing you bought. Go over your records with a fine toothcomb and if you need to dispute a charge, contact your credit card company right away. Be aware that often criminals operating online will sometimes make small purchases over a particular span of time so they are less likely to be detected right away. 

Many of the major credit bureaus offer a credit monitoring service which is definitely a good investment for anyone who shops online. To use an example, the credit bureau, TransUnion has an “Identity Fraud Watch” service that on a weekly basis sends out e-mails to consumers to make them aware of any modifications that have been made to their credit report or profile. TransUnion charges $44.00 per year for this service but it is worth the money. Other credit bureaus such as Equifax and Experian also have a similar system in place although Equifax charges an annual fee of $100.00 while Experian charges $120.00. There are some states, such as California and Texas, consumers can request where credit freezes. What this means is that a potential creditor can only access your credit report with your permission. Every time this is done it costs you money however. It costs eight dollars for a potential creditor to look at your credit report and then ten dollars to freeze the report after that. 

 

Related posts:

1. Been Online Shopping Lately? You Might Want to Check your Credit Report, Just to be Safe
2. Stealing Identities- Make Sure You are not a Victim When Doing the E-Commerce Thing
3. The Virtual Credit Card — What it is and Why You Should Have It
4. A Quickie Guide to Taking Advantage of Shopping Online
5. Your Guide to Buying Terrific Toys Online at a Bargain

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