How do I convince my parents that shopping online is okay?
- Saturday Nov 7,2009 08:33 AM
- By diddy
- In Others
My parents are always afraid of identity theft and getting their credit card # stolen. How can I convince them that if you have common sense, you hopefully won’t have to worry? Oh, and how can you verify if a site is legit,safe,and legal?
Common Sense, Credit Card, Identity Theft, Parents, Shopping Online
9 Comments
To be completely truthful shopping on line is a toss up. It depends on a number of things. One, Check the site out. Does it have Varisign? (I know that’s not spelled right but your parents can figure it out) Run the websites url through web of trust. Read what others have posted about the site. Is your computer well protected? Not some free AV. I mean by a real paid for AV like Kaspersky that will warn you if something isn’t right? Some sites will try to attack your computer looking for CC #’s. A good AV (Security Suite) will block that. When you buy on line with a free AV installed. They won’t protect you. Is your computer up to date with all the Microsoft patches and fixes? If it isn’t don’t do it. These guys that do internet fraud know how to exploit any venerability. Does the credit card you will use have fraud protection so you (your parents) won’t have to pay back the credit card company even if it is fraud? Some CC companies will make you pay back money even if it was fraud by someone else. There is a lot to look at and consider when buying on line.
Get a paypal account and just put money into, in that case EVEN if you information would be stolen it wouldnt matter because people wont be able to steal your money (considering you only put in the amount you need to pay for online purchases). Your information will not get stolen anyways if you have common sense like you said. Theres really no way to know if a site is real or not but major ones are obvious like Amazon.com
To convince them, tell them things are cheaper on the internet; because they are cheap compared to buying things at a store.
you can never know, it depends of the guy recieving your credit number. the majority wont steal it, but one of them is EEVVILL MOUHAHAHA ok so its not always safe.
for the site, if the site is reputed, popular, then its safe. but in the other way, it takes people to use unpopular sites and make them popular.. complicated world huh?
There’s no 100% foolproof way to verify that a website is legit. Stores that are famous or have physical presence in your town are likely ok. For example, Amazon.com is safe, and so is Target.com. More or less. You can also go to the "wayback machine" on the internet archive to see how long a site was up. If it’s been there for years, that lends credibility.
Some credit cards have a feature that you can request a one-time credit card number that will only be used for a particular transaction. After that, the number is no good. So even if someone steals the number, they can’t do anything with it.
Visa, Mastercard, and I think Amex have a liability limit of like $50 in case of fraud, so that’s not the major issue. The issue is if your identity is stolen, it can take years to straighten out.
Our daughter bought something online, and the item actually came. But subsequently, someone drained her account. So your parents are right to be careful.
Sorry, but I’m with your parents. It’s so easy to get your card #, etc. stolen if you’re not careful.
You don’t, it’s their money. When you have some then you shop online.
You cannot.
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It is their money you are spending.
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IF YOU have to ask the question "Oh, and how can you verify if a site is legit,safe,and legal?", THEN you should not even think of shopping online.
One of the most important online shopping tips is to make sure your transaction is secure. Before entering your payment information, you should look in the bottom, right corner. Here you should see a padlock symbol. You should also see the letters "http" in front of the website’s address. These two symbols mean that the page is secure and that the personal information you enter is encrypted and safe from hackers. This is the most important step that you can take for protecting yourself from identity theft.
There are several more online shopping tips that help ensure that your information is secure. Always print a copy of your receipt and track your credit card and bank records. Another great way to protect yourself is to use an online payment processor rather than your personal credit or debit cards. Online payment processors, such as PayPal, protect your information and offer solutions should you find that you have purchased a product that you do not receive. Another way to protect your personal information is to use pre-paid credit cards. Pre-paid credit cards can be loaded and used only once for extra security. As with anything financial, safety is always the top priority.
Another important tip is to be sure you learn what the merchant’s cancellation, complaint-handling, and return policies are. Be sure that, if the product is not what you expected, or is damaged during delivery, options are available for replacement or a refund. Online shopping can save you time and money, and offers you the convenience of shopping for almost anything you need from the comfort of your own home. And, if you follow these online shopping tips, and protect yourself from identity theft, online shopping can be safer than shopping in the traditional manner. You can find everything you need, including household products, clothing, and gifts from the comfort of your favorite easy chair.
Use a good antivirus, firewall, and good hardware firewall router. Also a good link checker is mcafee site advisor, norton site checker, and WOT.
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