Keeping Online Shopping Safe And Sound

Shopping online has grown into big business, very, very, big business, in fact the business of online shopping is now reckoned to worth over one hundred billion pounds, which is big in anyone’s books.

This sort of financial behemoth has not gone unnoticed by the underclasses, the cyber criminals, hackers, scammers, phishers, and whatever new name has been used to christen a new type of fraud, theft or swindle.

The ease and delight of shopping online is a great thing, but it is worth being a little vigilant to help keep your personal details and your money safe.

If you find yourself at a site you are unfamiliar with, but has caught your eye with something, a few quick checks that take only seconds, can go a long way in keeping your shopping online experience safe and sound.

Before you enter any personal information, check that the site has a measure of security, by looking at the address in your browser bar. The address should begin https:/, the significant part of this is the S at the end, if it doesn’t have it i.e. the address reads http:/ do not use it.

The S indicates security and stands for Secure Sockets Layers and is an important part of the protocol that allows sites, such as shopping sites that transmit financial details to do so with the aid of encryption.

The information that you enter on the secure page as you make your purchase is encrypted as it leaves your computer and can only be de-encrypted by the seller’s terminal on arrival. Should the information be hacked as travels the “super highway”, the hacker will receive nothing but babble.

Always use a credit card when paying for your online shopping. Your debit card does not have the fall back security that the credit card has. Should the transaction not go as planned, and for instance the information is hacked, then your bank account details have gone straight into someone’s hands, giving them direct access to the account.

Using a credit card, you have in effect, used the credit card company’s money, and they are then responsible for it. This is particularly useful if, again, a transaction does not go to plan, should the goods be substandard, or perhaps not turn up at all, if the seller disappears or goes broke, the credit card company will reimburse the majority of the price of the purchase, under the Consumer Credit Act.

Little things to remember, that take no time at all can go a long way to keeping your online shopping safe and sound.