Online Shopping: Safe or a Slippery Slope?

This is undoubtedly a question that every would-be online shopper has asked at one time or another, and for good reason. And, we can generally conclude that, for the most part, online shopping is safe. But that does not mean that there are not dangers. There are indeed times when hackers have found their way into secure systems and hijacked sensitive personal and corporate information.

In one real-life example, a woman used her credit card to purchase an item from a well-known website. The company had her credit card on file in its database. Thus, all she had to do was enter her password, and the amount was charged to her card. Unfortunately, a notice appeared stating that there was something wrong with her credit card and that she should contact the issuing company. To make a long story short, someone from this company accessed her account while she was online and used her card to make a purchase from another website. The credit card company notified her of this transaction and immediately cancelled her account and proceeded to issue her a new card.

While this particular incident was caught in time, there are countless other individuals that have been victimized by online identity theft and were not made aware of it until some time later, after hundreds or even thousands of dollars were spent.

Most credit card companies have a fraud protection service, and it's wise that you sign up for this service regardless of the price. Having this service gives you the added protection you need and allows you to shop online with minimal concern. But, there are times when even the most sophisticated security software cannot keep a hacker from accessing your personal information. This is why it is vital to shop only on those sites that offer encryption protection. In fact, most well-known and trustworthy websites explain their security practices. If a website you're considering does not offer this high level of protection, you should indeed think twice (if not three times) about doing business there.

In addition, when you do use your credit card online to make a purchase, you also may become susceptible to other websites that offer similar items. This is analogous to buying an item through a mail order company. Soon after, you will be receiving dozens of offerings from other similar mail order companies as well.

Many of you may remember when Ivory Soap was advertised as 99.9% pure (ah, the 'good ole days'). Well, you can generally deem online shopping to be just about as safe, but that 0.1 percent is always lurking in the background. And, because total online revenues most certainly rank in the billions (and billions) of dollars each year, even that minute fractional value can add up to quite a significant amount of cash.