Press Centre

Use Caution When Buying On-Line

Tak Landrock
News Channel 13
November 27th 2006

The Monday after Thanksgiving is known as ‘Cyber Monday' because it's the day people go back to work and use the high-speed connections to dive into shopping sites. According to a survey by the National Retail Foundation, 61 million people are expected to shop online at work this holiday season, up 18 percent from last year.  

 If you buy on-line you need to be aware of the dangers, so you don't become a victim of fraud this holiday season. Almost 40 percent of this year's identity theft will happen between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31.

 Artie Romero, CEO of CityStar in Colorado Springs says buying on-line is relitivly safe. " It's much safer using your credit card on-line than it is at a resturaunt, store or on the phone as long as your web browser is updated."  "Internet Explorer 7 is a critical update, if you don't get IE7 you don't have a secure browser."   Internet Explorer 7 was released earlier this year and comes with Windows Defender. It's considered the ultimate spyware program. If your computer has a virus or spyware it doesn't matter how secure the site is, you are opening yourself up for identity theft. Others insist you should use Mozilla's Firefox  2.0 to get the best updated browser security.   

"There are programs that read each keystroke and everything you do on you PC, " says Romero. "The most dangerous one is the Trojan Horse." Two recent studies suggest that about one in 10 online shoppers is expected to become a victim of fraud this holiday season.

 Shoppers have become so comfortable sharing their personal information and credit card numbers online, they now run the risk of passing that data along to online predators, but banks are fighting back with Virtual Account Numbers. Discover, CitiBank, MBNA and Bank of America all allow consumer to get these virtual account numbers, which can be only used once. " If the merchant gets hacked and their database gets stolen, they (crooks) gets that useless number," says Romero.

 Regina Lewis with AOL appeared on "Good Morning America" to share tips on how consumers could buy online and stay safe.

Watch Out for E-Mail From Scammers

Scammers are sending out mass e-mails that you may get in your inbox, saying there's been a problem with your order.

Don't take the bait. A real online retailer would never ask you to send information through an e-mail.

It would tell you to go to its Web site and update your account information there.

Only Use Credit Cards Online

Don't buy with a debit card; credit cards offer more protection.

If there's an issue, such as gifts getting damaged in shipping, the credit card company will be tied up while things are reconciled.

Your bank account won't be affected, as it would be if you had used a debit card.

Make Sure the Site's Secure

Before putting in any credit card information, look at the address bar and make sure it reads "https," instead of just "http."

The extra "s" stands for secure. When you see the "s," you know that the site is secure and that your credit card information is on a secure server.

Comparison-Shop for Good Deals

There are great shopping-comparison sites like shopzilla.com, bizrate. com, and nextag.com.

Type in whatever gift you're looking for, and the sites scan 80,000 different Web retailers for 35 million different items.

In seconds, you get a list of where that gift is available for the best price, and the service is free.

Don't Be Afraid of Smaller Retailers

If you're using a comparison tool, don't be afraid of shopping at sites you haven't head of.

The comparison sites are vetting the e-tailers for you. They all have to meet a certain standard and be credible, or they won't show up in the first place.

Plus, the e-tailers that you haven't heard of often have the best deals. They're willing to undercut the big guys, because they need to establish themselves.

Search for Coupons Before Buying

Remember that you can often get a coupon for free or reduced shipping, or a percentage off your order even if the site isn't automatically offering it.

Just enter the name of the retailer, the "+" sign, and "coupon code" or "promo code" into a search engine to find a code. Or go to gottadeal.com, which also lists coupon codes.