Cyber Safety

Cyber Monday is here and hot deals are advertised everywhere.  I wanted to share a few tips to protect yourself while you do all of that fun and convenient shopping from home!

1. Make sure you are ordering from a secure site. Check the URL for “https” and look for a lock in the bottom right hand corner of the page.
2. If you have never heard of the store or the deal sounds too good to be true, check the Better Business Bureau website (here) before ordering.
3. Check the return policy and make sure you understand it before buying.  You don't want to get stuck with something you can't return!
4. Always keep a record of what you purchase.
5. Remember that debit cards aren’t protected under the Fair Credit Billing Act, so credit cards are the prefered method.  The max. liability with a credit card is $50, with a debit card it's up to $500!
6. Use a variety of search engines such as froogle.com and shopzilla.com to find the lowest prices and to make sure companies aren't just paying to have their sites listed in searches.
7. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse recommends that you print out a copy of the webpage describing the company, their portal address, phone number, and legal terms (including return policy).
8. The American Bar Association (Safeshopping.org) Suggests visiting sites with without revealing your identity through http://www.anonymizer.com/.
9. Avoid clicking on email links because these links could take you to a fake website that's set up for the sole purpose of stealing your credit card information. Instead, go directly to the real website by typing the URL in your internet browser.

Update: Check out some of the many great online deals at Maybe Frugal here!  Hope this helps and all you cyber shoppers find some great online deals out there!

Resources:
43folders.com/2005
7 Safe Online Credit Card Shopping Tips
By LaToya Irby, About.com Guide
Weekend Edition by Rachael Gallaher. www2.wnct.com
Image from Photobucket.com