According to wikipedia online shopping statistics online shopping turnover in 2006 was over $146 billion! The numbers are growing year by year and since most of the payments online are made by credit cards, their misuse is growing as well. Another growing concern is, that shopping online is so easy that people spend much more than they have originally planed. It is very easy to get a credit card today using a credit card application and almost anyone gets approved.

Online shopping without a control can quickly lead to huge debt and personal bankruptcy. If you have a history of going over your monthly budget or if you tend to spend more online as you can afford, a god idea is to get online credit cards. They can be limited to how much you spend and you can also have a real time look at your current statement. Also, they offer increased security over normal credit card.

When paying for goods online we tend to use our credit card, it is one of many ways to pay for a product online and the reason it is so popular is because it is the easiest and quickest method of payment when ordering online. Many websites are very legit and have a very safe method of making the payment as smooth as possible with no problems. New users to online shopping definitely need to read this article because it will give you tips and advice on how to stay clear of scammers who are after your money and have no interest in sending you the goods which you rightfully paid for.

Scammers seem to follow a pattern, which is easily identified. They will normally have a bog standard website, not very professional. Secondly they normally don’t have a secure payment method and this leaves you more vulnerable to them taking your money and you not receiving your product. They also tend to send out bogus receipts, which claim to have all the details of the transaction when in reality it is a fake. They do this and trick you into thinking that you can use the receipt against them. But you must always double-check these emails to make sure they are not fraudulent and most importantly not a fake.

When ordering online the first thing you should check is if the site is legit, whether it has a good background and is reputable enough to buy products off. If the site is not reputable or has a bad reputation when selling products then do not buy items off the site because they may be scammers. The second thing you need to look out for is whether the site has a secure payment method for when using your credit card, you need to make sure that any payments you are making are secure and cannot be viewed by anyone other than you, this prevents other people mainly hackers stealing your credit card details. The third thing you need to look out for when ordering online is that the site has a guarantee of sort, that way you can send the item back if it comes damaged. These three steps are essential when ordering online to avoid being scammed in anyway. Another good tip is to always read the fine print, many scammers will leave there terms and conditions in fine print in a hard to find place on their site, so make sure you know all the facts before using your credit card.

If you want to be 100% sure that nobody can hurt you with identity theft, than LifeLock is a great decision. LifeLock is a company that specializes in identity theft protection by blocking the thief from using your personal information to get a loan. Lifelock Reviews suggest that Lifelock has almost 100% rate of saving your from identity thieves getting a loan in your name. Although some sources suggest that there is a possibility of Lifelock Scam, that has not been proven. Company continues to save many Americans from identity theft for only $10 a month.

Credit Magic is a credit community dedicated to help people with credit problems and questions. The best thing is, that it is an actual community where users share their opinion and experiences on varios financial and credit problems. There are a variety of themes covered, such as credits, mortages, credit card safety, online frauds, identity thefts and more. It makes very interesting reading, since users are sharing experiences between each other. Credit score is one of the most popular subject there, no wonder since this always a very hot subject.

Since we haven’t wrote about credit score before, here is a short definition. A credit score is an expression in number, based on a analysis of a person’s credit history, to show that person’s creditworthiness. Creditworthiness is the perceived probability that the person will pay debts as agreed with the bank. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, usually from credit bureaus / credit reference agencies.

It’s a fact of life, with greater technical innovation there are increasing opportunities for credit theft. The most common way this is achieved is by someone stealing your identity. With just a few details an “identity thief” can effectively take over your life! They can take out bank loans, phone contracts, credit cards, and more. In one case an identity thief even took over someone’s house and then re-mortgaged it!

So, you say it won’t happen to you? But the fact is it will eventually happen to you unless precautions are taken. Suppose someone gets access to your post, from this they can get utility invoices which in turn can be used as proof of residence to take out a bank loan. Once someone has your name and address they can also check out Facebook and maybe find your date of birth and photo. The thief now has enough information to do just about anything.

Just imagine you are a landlord letting a property to someone, they have all of this fake data, when they default on their rent you will never find them, you will only trace the individual whose identity was stolen. For landlords however there is some opportunity for protection, they can carry out tenant checks or tenant screening using a specialist for credit check services. But for the individual whose identity was stolen, there is just one option, you need to take action to protect your data before it is too late!

Ever had your credit card stolen? Have you ever wondered what sort of damage it can cause to the victim? Credit card theft is a very common crime committed in today’s society, the reason being because it is so easy to steal a small card and it is so easy to use it and buy any item of your choice, the worst part of credit card theft is that the chances of catching the criminal can be very slim, especially if you are not aware of the theft and have not blocked any payments to the credit card. In this article I will be exploring the effects that credit card theft can have on the victims.

Many victims of credit card theft have been through hell, the experience can be horrifying, they can lose a lot of money due to transactions made by the thief on their credit card and this can lead to further issues such as stress and in some cases even loss of a home to live in. You could be walking to the shops as usual like you would any other week and you then go to pay for the items with your credit card and suddenly a man suddenly swipes it out of your hand and runs. When he has possession of your credit card he is free to buy almost anything he wants, he will slowly build up a huge debt on your credit card bill and when receiving this in the post you can be shocked at how much has been spent. You may have thought nothing of having your card stolen, but having it stolen is basically having money taken from your pocket. In some cases it can be thousands and thousands until the card reaches its monthly limit. This is why you need to make sure you block any payments made by the card as soon as you notice the card is missing, you need to be aware and check that you know where you card is at all times because if you lose it and do not do anything about it then you my find yourself falling into a big financial debt and not being able to do a thing about it. If you block any incoming payments made to the card then you can avoid a lot of money loss and make sure it does not further damage.

(more…)

Using credit cards can be dangerous, especially since your using money, which you don’t currently have with you. You are practically loaning from the supplier and you then pay them back when you receive the bill they send you. Since it is so easy to pay for things with your credit card using the pin number system you are in equal a lot more vulnerable to credit cards thieves. In this article I am going to talk about how to keep your money safe and go into detail on how you can prevent thieves from using your credit card to purchase items, this way you will be a safe buyer and be assured that if anything does go wrong you have a solution for it.

 Now, you own a credit card, you use it regularly and you’ve never seen a problem with flashing it around and buying things with ease. Let me tell you that you should be extremely careful with your credit cards, though it may seem easy to pay for things, it is also an easy thing to lose or have stolen and when thieves have possession of such an item and they know your pin number it is even easier for them to start spending and spending and then what happens to you? You receive a huge bill through the door and you feel completely stupid for letting such a thing happen, and the worst part about it is that its almost impossible to trace the thief and you will end up having to pay the bill. It’s not a nice feeling, paying out a huge sum of money simply because you lost or had your card stolen. It’s annoying how something of such little value can cause you so many problems if it falls into the wrong hands.

The best solution to such problems is to start by checking you have your card with you at all times, check your wallet or purse when you arrive at home, if it is missing you should immediately call up the company who gave you the credit card off or your bank. If you ring the company you can cancel your credit card or report that you think it may be stolen, this will block any payments made by the card if it was stolen and render it useless to any criminals trying to use it. You could also ring your bank and they can block and payments made, this also renders the card useless until the problem is resolved.

(more…)

Ever since credit cards were invented they have caused many financial problems to people. But this is not the fault of the credit cards it is the fault of the user. A good example is possession multiple credit cards, this is a very bad thing to be doing, especially if you depend on your income and money each month. You need to control how much you spend and when having multiple credit cards it becomes incredibly easy to spend more and more, everything seems fine since your purchasing lots and lots of items. You may feel as though you are rewarding yourself when in reality you are burning a huge hole in your wallet or purse and putting yourself into huge debt. In this article I will advise you on how to limit yourself and avoid being drawn in to getting more and more credit cards which can leave you in debt.

The worst part about credit cards is that many companies offer them, they claim to have the lowest rates and the more credit card offers you see the more you indulge. Do not let yourself get multiple credit cards because all it does is encourage you to spend more, and when you spend more and cannot afford to pay off the credit card bills you become more and more in debt. Such debt has caused suicide for many victims to credit card debt. My advice to you is that you get just one credit card but have a limit of two, that way you have control of your money and you are making sure you have only two credit card bills to pay, having multiple credit cards can lead to forgetting how much you spend on each and when you receive the bill and you total the amount you may find yourself shocked at the results. Another tip is to resist temptation, so what if there is a new credit card with an even better rate, you’ve got a credit card already, it’s met your needs so far so why get another? One last
  and final problem with having multiple credit cards is that you can easily loose track of how many you have and what you have. What happens if one of these cards goes missing or get stolen, it is only going to make it worse for you because you are going to have to find out which card is missing first before getting it blocked.

Be aware of how many cards you have and stay within a safe limit, don’t be tempted and don’t spend money you do not have.

Many of us know what a credit card is, its fairly simple. It is a card which allows us to pay for things without actually having the cash with us, it builds up a certain amount depending on how much you have spent and then you receive a bill at the end of each month telling you how much you need to pay to cover the costs you spend with the credit card. However, though credit cards may seem simple and easy to use there is actually a lot more behind them and their usage that you are probably not ever aware of. In the following article I will be explaining what the best type of credit card is and what you need to be aware of so that you make sure you keep your credit cards safe.

Now, if you don’t have a credit card or already own one you probably have a set lifestyle and I suggest that you get a new credit card that fits into that lifestyle comfortably. When looking for a suitable credit card you need to consider. The best card for most people is a low fixed-rate credit card rather than a low variable-rate credit card. With a low fixed-rate you can adjust your lifestyle and living according to how much you require to pay, at least with a fixed-rate you know how much you will be paying each month instead of the unreliable variable-rate which can differ. Variable-rate cards can be annoying, especially if you’ve not earned a good amount of income over the month and you get a bill that’s higher than before for your credit card. Stick to a fixed-rate credit card, which is low because this way you will know what to expect.

Another thing you have to be aware of when getting a credit card or using a credit card is to keep it safe, credit cards are only protected by a four-digit pin number currently and if a passer-by catches a glimpse of this number he could be after your card. Only take the card out when you feel its necessary and try and when typing in your pin number try to cover it up and make it seem like you are pressing other buttons, this keeps your pin number from getting out. If you ever lose you credit card you must ring your bank or credit card company and tell them to block any further payments made with it until you find it, this assures that your card is safe and you don’t lose out on money.

Skimming is the theft of credit card information by a dishonest employee of a legitimate merchant, manually copying down numbers, or using a magnetic stripe reader on a pocket-sized electronic device. Common scenarios for skimming are restaurants or bars where the skimmer has possession of the victim’s credit card out of their immediate view. The skimmer will typically use a small keypad to unobtrusively transcribe the 3 or 4 digit Card Security Code which is not present on the magnetic strip.

Many instances of skimming have been reported where the perpetrator has put a device over the card slot of a public cash machine (Automated teller machine), which reads the magnetic strip as the user unknowingly passes their card through it. These devices are often used in conjunction with a pinhole camera to read the user’s PIN at the same time.

To prevent this type of fraud, cards in countries such as the UK are issued featuring a smart chip with public key encryption. The chip cannot be copied, but the card number, expiry date and security code can be, and this set of data is often sufficient to use the victim’s credit card account for fraudulent purposes with so-called “card not present” transactions, e.g., manual input, over the telephone or internet.

 Skimming is a growing problem today and you should always be extremely careful with your credit cards. Always check the ATM machine for any sign of misuse (cameras overlooking the keyboard or some insert in the slot for the credit card). Be sure you always have your card in view when paying in shop or restaurant.

The answer is yes. For now. There are numerous lawsuits going on just now, large companies being sued for exposing too much information on receipts they print when they charge your credit card. Generally speaking you have to be very careful with your receipts, always keep them in safe place and dispose them in a way that no-one can see them.

Read more here: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2128233,00.asp

(more…)

(more…)

In this age, taking measures to keep your lives private is not a luxury but a necessity. This world has become a global village and many people are trying to steal your personal information either for personal or for corporate purposes. There are many ways that are used by people to steal your credit card information. Never believe fake emails saying some thing about discount or anything about wining a prize. There are thousands of identity theft (via email) cases reported each year. People surfing on the internet some times make mistakes that cost them to much. The most common method used for identity theft is internet email. Nowadays, almost every online service providers uses email to contact their costumers.

If you receive any email which appears to be from your bank saying that they require you to enter your credit card information some where for some reason; never do it. In case you feel that some emails do appear to be from your bank, then always first call your bank to verify it. So how can some one steal my personal information via email? Let’s imagine a scenario where you wake up one day, go to your office and check your mail box. You received an email saying some thing about 70 percent discount. You open that email and read it. It says some thing like this; you are one of the 100 people to whom we proudly offer 70 percent discount on the following items. Oh, what a coincidence, you are interested in one of the items in the list. So you visit their website found in the same email. The website is beautiful and you are thinking that you are the luckiest man on the earth. You fill the first form where you enter your address and then comes the page where you are requested to enter your credit card information. You are excited and in this excitement, you forget to verify that whether or not the site is secure. You just enter the credit card information and then after few days, you realize that you have been hit by credit card theft.

It is also also very important to make sure that your computer does not have any virus or SpyWare on it, by running a scan as often as possible. Use AntiVirus software such as MacroVirus On-Call, that also offers free download and scan of your computer.

(more…)

Nowadays, people love to shop online because it’s easy and very convenient. In this environment people want to have themselves secured from preying eyes who want to steal the personal information or information relating to their organization. A person or an organization can transfer its data from one place to another without any outside interference. Credit cards are the most commonly used method for paying online. Credit cards have made things easier for us but we should take precautions when giving credit card information online. Make sure that the website where you are shopping is secure site.

So what is a secure site? How do I know that a website is secure or not? A secure site use high standard encryption and decryption for all the confidential data that is entered. In this way, your credit card information never leaks out. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is the most common protocol used by almost all browsers.

If you use Internet Explorer then watch for this padlock at the bottom right corner of the browser.

In Netscape watch for a padlock that will appear some where at the bottom of the browser. If this padlock is closed that is locked, then it means that the website that you are using is secure for any credit card transaction. In case it is open or is unlocked, then it means that the site is not secure. Usually this padlock appears only on the page where credit card information is requested. So always watch for this padlock.

In Mozilla Firefox, this padlock appears on the address bar as well as at the bottom right corner of the browser.

In Safari this padlock appears at the upper right corner of the browser. SSL is responsible for all the encryption of your personal data. SSL certificates are accepted by all the browsers.

Using credit cards for payments or business deals is the fastest and the simplest method but care should be taken when giving credit card information to others especially on the internet. Always remember to see the padlock in your browser to see whether or not, the site you are visiting is secure.

Credit Cards not only give you an advantage of not having to carry excess cash around, but also offer safety and flexibility in your financing needs. 

Best way to find an appropriate card is to search through the internet. You should keep some points in mind while finding the card. Try to look for a card that has the least amount of money that you require for your monthly expense so that you can easily pay the amount back when you have enough money in your hand. A credit card is free money for the first few days but you end up paying a lot more back, so try to keep this in your mind.

When choosing a card first look for the companies review. Ask other people about their personal experiences and their opinions about the cards they are using. Also, look whether it works in all the gas stations and shopping centers near you. 

You should look for the annual percentage rate or APR, a financial charge that is expressed as yearly rate. Before signing up for the card also look for the monthly charging rate and whether these are variable or fixed. By variable it is meant that you can be charged higher or lower according to the market (interest rate) conditions. You should ask queries on this issue as how much and how less would be charged from you. You should find a card that offers a free period during which you would not be charged. This is suitable if you can pay in full each month within the due date. Also ask them to send you the bill twelve to fourteen days prior to the due date so you can take advantage of this offer.

Check for the annual fee of the card as these matters a lot. Choose the card with the lowest interest, so you end up paying as little interest as possible. Also, keep in mind whether they give a significant protection against credit card theft. Choose the card that can provide a 24 hrs helpline and can be replaced quickly and with minimum charge if it gets stolen or lost. Make a chart, compare all the cards, award them points according to their services, and choose the one that matches your criteria.

(more…)

Spyware is a program that many companies attach along with their software or file you have downloaded of the Internet, so that they can monitor person’s habits. This information is then transmitted secretly to the companies via Internet. The companies make or market already made products based on the habits of a person.  This is one of the extreme forms of marketing and uses a lot of bandwidth and processing power of a computer. The result of Spyware software can be anything from annoying popups on your screen, constant spam emails, or even personal data being transmitted away from your computer, such as credit card and social security numbers. 

Sometimes when you download something, usage of Spyware is mentioned by the parent company in the End User License Agreement window, so it is very important to check it. Some companies offer free software just to send you Spyware with it. Spyware is also very common in P2P shared files, such as the one on LimeWire

You can make your computer a virtual fortress by taking some measures that would bring back peace to you and processing to your computer. You should always have an Antivirus or AntiSpyware software installed, to make sure that no personal information is going of your computer.

You can start a full system scan by using some anti Spyware software’s like SpyWare Removal from AdwareAlert. This program offers free scan, so you can immediately see if somebody is tracking your moves. You should follow all the instructions given by the software to make absolutely sure that all the Spyware is cleaned from you computer. You will probably be shocked to see how many intruders there are on your computer already, that is if you haven’t used any AntiSpyware software before.

You will probably ask yourself what is Phishing? This term has been widely used for past couple of years; Phishing refers to the objectionable action of intervening in one’s personals affairs and stealing valuable information by fraud. Usually associated with web-based fraud, and includes stealing of access usernames, passwords, and other important personal information as credit card accounts etc.

The most common Phishing tactic is a fake email which directs you to a website you are already registered on and asks you to fill up all your personal data again, probably stating a problem with their system or the fact that you didn’t enter it correctly the first time. You are asked to enter all the information such as your social security number, credit card details, passwords and back account numbers, all the stuff you have previously given to the same organization.

A relatively new idea related with Phishing is phone Phishing, the basic phenomenon being the same, stealing information; recently there have been records of people getting phone calls from their respective banks and being asked to dial a number, upon dialing the users talk to a so-called bank employee who prompts them to tell him their personal information. The website and employee obviously being fake, steal all your precious information.

Phishing may be carried out through instant messaging, email and phone, the method being the same fake links. The idea of Phishing dates back to as long as 1996. The damages include failure of access to email accounts to significant financial losses.

Now a very important question arises, how do we cope with phishers? Awareness doesn’t quiet do the job as phishers send out millions of mails daily looking for potential targets. The most important is to NEVER trust an email or phone call asking you for any kind of your personal detail. Check for authenticated links and send your organization an email or phone them, to check for the validity of the link.

To keep in check phone phishers ask the employee for identification and give him a call back on a phone number listed on the company’s REAL home page or your credit card or banking account contract. This whole counter checking process is a bit time consuming, but it’s your personal information and you have to do whatever you can to keep it safe. If you want a faster counter checking technique, it might be a good idea to check out anti-Phishing software available in the market from Norton etcetera.
Phishing is a menace and nobody but you yourself can keep you and your information safe! See this post to get an idea about how damaging phishing can be to you.

PayPal is an online company that gives an alternative to normal customers as well as merchants to make payments. It is currently operating in 190 countries and regions and has 50 million customers. It first started as a C2C but after some time it also added a B2C function as well. The total transactions in the Q4 2006 were $11 billion. It is the largest e-commerce site in the world. EBay acquired its services in October 2002.It is the easiest way to transfer money form one person to another whether the other person has a PayPal account or not. The other person is notified by email and he can then receive the payment by creating a PayPal account. It is very simple to create such account, the only thing you need is a valid email address and a checking account that can be verified as this might be needed when you want a reclaim. You can add funds by a checking account, a credit card or payments from other paypal members. Other people can pay you by the means mentioned above. If you want to withdraw funds then you can ask for a check, ask them to put money in your checking accounts or debit card account. The paypal functions by collecting interest on your money and small transaction fees.

Almost every day we hear that someone’s credit card or the credit card number has been stolen. A stolen or lost card is of no further use to anyone because the thief would have bought several things with the help of your card. First things first, you should report about it immediately to your card issuer. Mainly all credit card companies like Visa, American Express, MasterCard, and Discover have 24 hours service so you should take advantage of it.  It is good for you that you inform them immediately as this card can be used for several illegal businesses and you might be held responsible for it as you did not inform or informed late about this issue and you would be suspected of running an illegal business. It should be noted that once you have reported about the card, your account would be blocked straight away. Therefore, you should first make a quick but thorough search in your belongings and then report about the missing card. A new card will be issued in the next 7-10 working days. If you find the card after some days you should not use it again as you might get in trouble for using a credit card that was reported stolen.

The most important is to keep a safe eye on where and how you use your credit card. There are different sets of measures you can take you help ensure your credit card safety. In a restaurant make sure that when you are paying for what you have eaten go along to the counter and keep and eye on the whole process of making a receipt, try not to lend it to anybody else. Most restaurants already have mobile credit card terminals, which ensure that the credit card is always on your eyes.

When in a shop make it a point that before signing the correct amount has been entered in the receipt. If you want to pay by check through your credit card in a shop or a restaurant make sure you don’t allow the sales person to write down your credit card number on the check. If you are directly paying through credit card make it a point that the sales person doesn’t get to write your driver’s license or social security number, make sure he doesn’t even get a glimpse. When shopping avoid signing a blank receipt, whenever and where ever possible and carefully check the amount on the receipt and draw a line at the end of the amount so that it isn’t altered later in your absence.

It is very important to always save your copy of receipts so that you can counter check the amounts that appear on your monthly bank statement.

Is it safe to use a credit card online? Well, the answer is both yes and no as it totally depends upon how you use your credit card online.

Be smart when using a Credit Card:
Whenever you want to buy something from the internet first search for the relevant items from sites with good reviews and feedbacks. There is a website called http://www.consumer.gov maintained by Federal Trade Commission. This site contains buyer’s guides and many useful tips. You can find a shopping site with a good review with the help of this site. In case this does not help, you can then start searching for a site with a good feedback among various internet user communities.

Here are some general tips on how to use your credit card online safely:

1. Whenever you are going to pay for something through a site, first make sure that the address of the web page starts with “https” not “http”. This means that the transaction is encrypted and secure. 

2. Look for an unbroken key or a padlock at the right end of your browser as this means that the data you will send is going to be encrypted so that no unautorised person can see it.

3. Look for seals from privacy enforcement organizations like TRUSTe or BBBOnLine.

4. Look through the contact us page and make sure that the address is legal. Note their email addresses and phone numbers. 

5. Do not give any excess personal information to them, like your social security number.  Inform the relevant authorities if the sites ask irrelevant questions.

6. Do not give your credit card number through email as this is not secure and the site might be a “phising” site. 

7. Look for additional payment methods like PayPal (will cover that in one of the future articles).

8. Keep a record of every transaction in printed form, as soft copies on your computer might be insecure.

9. Do not buy anything until and unless you are satisfied with the information given by them.

10. Make sure there is no SpyWare on your computer and run a check at least once a month. SpyWare Remover is one of the best programs to make sure nobody is looking at what you are doing. Run a test NOW to make sure your personal information is safe.

Also, do not keep your credit card number on your PC, or written somewhere where it is easily accesible to other people. Try to memorize you credit card number or write it down in a backward way, for example write 4589 as 9854 and keep it in very safe place. Keep these steps in mind and you can start using your credit card in a safer way. 

(more…)