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Security Rules - Online Consumer Spending

This is the age of computers and internet. More and more people use the internet for online shopping. The total amounts of people who use internet have considerably increased from what it was a few years back. Do you know how much was online consumer spending in the year 2004? According to a survey, it was $65.1 billion…Ooh…unbelievable. How online shopping has increased, likewise, internet frauds have also increased to whooping heights. According to the Internet National Fraud Center watch, in 2005, average loss of internet fraud victims was recorded to be $2,579.

Almost all e-commerce websites have a good reputation and are secured websites. However, it is recommended to follow the steps provided below:

a) Do not use an ATM or debit card. Try to use only one credit card that has a low credit limit.

b) Keep guard of unsolicited e-mail offers from sellers. According to a survey by Internet National Fraud Information Center, using e-mail as a method to contact people by Internet scammers has increased by 22% in the year 2004. Even though such offers are legitimate, it is used as a side-step to get valuable information by the spammers.

c) Before doing an online purchase, ensure that the e-commerce website has provided their street address and telephone number. You can make use of this information, if you had to contact them.

d) Every website has a privacy policy. Please go through them carefully. Want to know why? Because, certain websites would have mentioned that they would sell/give your personal information to third-party vendors. They might also allow third-party vendors to send promotional and special offers to you.

e) Do you see a lock symbol at the bottom of your web browser in the status bar? If yes, it is a secured website. Similarly, ensure that the website address starts with “https” and not “http.” “s” in https stands for secured. Therefore, you can provide your personal information without any hesitation.

f) There are many third-party vendors such as Better Business Bureau, Verisign, Guardian eCommerce, etc. Do you know what these vendors do? They assure the customers of safe transactions over the internet. Therefore, it is always advisable to choose verified sellers.

g) Before placing an order online, check for the delivery date. In general, delivery dates will be anything between 7 – 10 days. However, if you find the delivery dates to be more than this duration, say, for example, 15 – 20 days, be on your guard.

h) Once you are over with a transaction, it is advisable to take a print out of it and put it in a file for further references.

i) You might see some offers, which would look good, however, unbelievable. Probe into such offers carefully before going on further as this can be a bait to get hold of your valuable information.

j) Just in case, you haven’t received the product you paid for and no communication from the vendor even when you try to get in touch with them, immediately get in touch with your state’s Department of Consumer Affairs.

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