No one ever wants to imagine they could become a victim of identity theft while doing business over the Internet but this is a problem that is of growing concern to consumers. More and more people are falling victim to phishers and criminals trolling the Internet for unsuspecting victims all of the time. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which is a “multi-industry consortium” formed in 2005 to fight identity theft and fraud in the online world, identity theft and phishing e-mail attacks are growing by leaps and bounds. They estimate that this serious problem is increasing 40 to 50 percent on a monthly basis and reached an alarming total of 2000 individuals by July 2006. They believe for the increase in this kind of crime is that many scams are very simple to create and execute and extremely difficult for the authorities to track down. As well the scams are getting more sophisticated all of the time which makes it harder and harder to discern what is genuine from what is phony. There is a fear that online criminals will soon be finding ways to use spyware to find their way into personal records kept on computers.

According to a study conducted in 2005 by the not-for-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, the average online identity theft victim spends an estimated $1400.00 as well as 600 hours in an attempt to clear his or her name and to repair their credit history. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the average amount of money stolen from every victim of identify theft or fraud is $10,200. The total overall loss to consumers for identify theft has reached a whopping four billion dollars and this is only expected to climb in the years to come.   

Once a criminal has gained access to your Social Security number (SSN), your bank account, your credit card numbers and your address as well as any other pertinent information, they can then shop in your name, apply for a mortgage, open new credit card accounts, and even create a whole new address. The key is to making sure that your personal information stays as private as possible.

One way to accomplish total privacy is to not provide your SSN to anyone over the Internet. When shopping online or doing other forms of business it should rarely be necessary to give it but if a company does request it, do a background check on the company and do as much research as you need to in order to determine the company’s legitimacy. As well be extremely careful with the passwords you choose for your e-mail accounts and any other accounts (such as shopping accounts) that you set up over the Internet. Do not allow other people access to your passwords and be as creative as you can possibly be when deciding on an appropriate password. Create passwords that would not be easy for a crook to decipher such as having a combination of letters and numbers put together in a strange way. Also have a mixture of lower-case and upper-case letters. It is also good practice to not choose a single word as a password but rather a phrase and choose a phrase that is at least seven to nine characters in length.

The best method of paying when doing business online is by credit card because there is a transaction trail to follow if a problem should arise down the line. Be aware that all credit card purchases made over the Internet are dully protected by what is known as the Fair Credit Billing Act. This act was put in place to protect consumers if case they found it necessary to dispute a charge they made or in the case that a suspicious charge should show up. Some credit card companies even offer their customers what amounts to an “online computer shopping guarantee.” In this way the customer is not held liable for any unauthorized purchases made on their credit card. Some companies have a cap on the monetary amount whereas others do not.

It is essential to always keep your credit cared information private and to always print off records of every transaction, every confirmation number and every purchase made. When you receive your monthly credit card statement, always look it over thoroughly to make sure there are no charges that were not made by you.

 

Related posts:

1. The Virtual Credit Card — What it is and Why You Should Have It
2. Quickie Guide to Protecting your Online Shopping Identity
3. Been Online Shopping Lately? You Might Want to Check your Credit Report, Just to be Safe
4. E-Commerce Owners and the Importance of Establishing an Online Payment System
5. Five Fail-safe Methods to Have a Scam-free Online Shopping Experience

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