Posted on: 07 December, 2001
Author: Richard Lowe
I ... that you be very cautious about ... anything on ... Why? The internet is large, new and ... in many cases. Itis ... easy for a ... schemer to set up I recommend that you be very cautious about purchasing anything on theinternet. Why? The internet is large, new and unprotected in many cases. Itis incredibly easy for a fly-by-night schemer to set up shop, defraud somepeople, then move on without getting caught. And it's often difficult todetermine who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.Not to mention the problems of credit card fraud, privacy invasion and otherunseemly attacks on your money and good name. Some of the dangers include:- Your credit card numbers can be stolen by any number of means. Thesecredit cards will then be charged up as high as they will go. You arelegally protected from this kind of thing, but you have to report it quickand you will not be able to use the disputed amount while it is beinginvestigated.- Spammers can get hold of your email address and send you undesiredadvertisements.- Unauthorized people can get your personal information and use it againstyou in some way.- In extreme cases, people may use your social security number (and othernumbers) to gain credit in your name. This is called identity theft.Here are some suggestions to help fight some of these things.- Make sure you are using a secure link. This is easy to determine, as youwill see the "https" in the site address. Your browser may also display alocked symbol.- Do not ever use your debit card. Some banks say you will not be liable forfraud, but that won't help in the short term with your checking accountempty. Use a credit card so that liability is covered with the banks money,not yours.- Get a small, $500 credit limit card for internet purchases and pay it offeach month. This way, your maximum exposure is $500. If someone uses itfraudulently you won't be liable anyways as long as you follow the reportingrules, but it's nice to limit even that small liability.- Always use a credit card for purchases on the internet. If your number isstolen it will be protected.- Be sure you are on the site that you think you are on. Check the address(URL) and make sure you've spelled it correctly.- Don't give out more information than needed to complete the purchase.- I'd keep a notebook with a list of what was purchased when. This would bevaluable if the product did not arrive as expected.- Be sure to save receipts to your disk drive.- Be careful of scams. If it looks too good to be true, it's probably a lie.- If you are purchasing anything substantial, you might try checking out thecompany's customer service first. You can call their 800 number or send anemail and see how long it takes to respond. Article Tags: Credit Card Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com