Knowing is Half the Battle: The Risks of Online Shopping

Is Online Shopping Safe?

Credit card fraud and identity theft produces so much anxiety for the victim and can destroy his or her credit and financial health for years afterwards. Unfortunately, with the explosion and popularity of online shopping has come an explosion of theft and fraud as well. Scammers can open all kinds of accounts in a victim’s name and even buy a house. This leaves the victim with thousands of dollars in debt that becomes derogatory and delinquent because he or she had no idea that loans and lines of credit even existed. The majority of fraud occurs online, so shoppers must be careful and diligent when they are using their credit card for purchases on the Internet.

Be aware of phishing. This is when people receive emails from people who claim to be a bank or financial institution that requests the reader to give them vital personal and financial information claiming that it is needed for authorization for a large deposit to be submitted to the victim’s bank account. The victim unknowingly obliges and hands over the information, not knowing that on the other end of the email is a scammer. Once that scammer has the victim’s information, he will access the user’s bank accounts and drain them all! The emails look very professional and official. By the time the victim realises what happens, the money is gone, the credit card accounts have been opened and gone over the limit, and credit is ruined for years and years.

Protecting your Credit Card Information

So what should consumers know to make sure that they don’t fall victim to these predators? First of all, these emails most often will not address the reader by their full names. The greetings are going to follow the style of something like “Dear Customer” or “Hello”. Genuine communications by institutions and lenders are going to have the proper name of the recipient in the salutation. Do not ever respond to these emails; instead, report it. You can report it to the institution that the email looks to be from. You can also inform your local authorities of the email as well. If there is a link within an email that you are encouraged to click on, don’t. Just by trying to access a phishing website can provide scammers with your financial information!

To help combat this, lenders have come up with plans to increase security and reduce the risk of fraud that is initiated online. Sometimes you will see sites that have been verified by credit card companies, and for these websites shoppers are taken to a completely different site to complete shopping transactions. Users have to confirm their identity and confirm the card that they are using. Unfortunately, scammers now create pages that look identical to the credit card pages and shoppers are still at risk for having their details and passwords stolen.

To Shop or not to Shop?

It is getting increasingly difficult to recognize the fraudulent sites, and the only true way that users can protect themselves from fraud resulting from online shopping is to not shop online- of course, although this is an option it is not a very viable one, so shoppers have to know what their intended website looks like, how it behaves and learn to recognise suspicious details that might tip them off to potential disaster involving their credit card.

Comparison of our Top Credit Card Offers

		Interest Rate (p.a.)	Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.)	Annual Fee	Cash Advance Rate (p.a.)
Bankwest Breeze MasterCard	A low interest rate on everyday purchases with a low balance transfer offer	0% for 6 months (reverts to 10.99% )	4.99% for 9 months	$49	21.99%
Citibank Clear Platinum Card	A low interest rate offer on balance transfers and purchases	11.99%	0% for 12 months with 3% handling fee	$99	21.74%
St.George Vertigo	An introductory offer on balance transfer and a low annual fee	13.24%	0.99% for 6 months	$55	21.49%
Virgin Flyer Credit Card	Earn 1 velocity point per $1 spent, plus an introductory offer on balance transfers	20.99%	1.9% for 12 months	$50 (for first year thereafter $99)	20.99%
Westpac 55 Day Credit Card	No annul fee for the first year with a low rate on balance transfers and purchases	0% for 5 months (reverts to 19.59% )	3.99% for 6 months	$0 annual fee for the first year ($30 thereafter)	21.49%