On-line Shopping
Many people are worried about the risk of credit card fraud when shopping on-line. Provided some basic
precautions are followed, shopping on-line need be no less safe that buying over the phone or by mail-order. Bone
fide traders always use secure servers for their on-line shopping web-sites. Avoid using sites which are not
hosted on secure servers and do not give out credit card details or other personal information by e-mail.
Many well known businesses now allow you to shop on-line. You will know whether they offer secure on-line trading
by the messages that appear as you progress through the shopping process. If they do not appear, then it is best to
be wary. When browsing an on-line shop and starting to make selections, the web address will still appear as you
typed it.
As you progress through your shopping, you will probably be invited to add items to a 'shopping
basket' (or 'cart') by clicking a button. You will be able to continue shopping and adding to your 'basket'. When you
have finished selecting all the items you want to buy, you will be able to click a button to 'proceed to the checkout'.
At this
point, you should be shown a warning indicating that you are about to view pages in a secure connection.
If you wish to continue, clicking 'OK' should take you to the secure there. When this happens, the web address should
change slightly. Instead of being plain 'http://www.', if the server - and the pages - are secure, the address should
begin with 'https://www.' indicating that the page is secure and cannot be viewed by anyone other than you and the
operator of the site. Whilst the web address remains prefixed 'https://www.' it is safe to give credit card details
and other personal information.
When you have finished entering all the information to make you purchases you will normally leave the
secure area. When this happens, a further warning should appear. Clicking 'Yes' you take you out of the secure area
and it is no longer safe to give credit card or other important information. During an on-line shopping session, you
may enter and leave a secure area more than once. However, you should not be asked for sensitive information without
re-entering the secure area.
Many 'pop-up' warning notices offer the opportunity to tick a box to avoid being shown the warning again. It
is perhaps safest not to tick the box so that you will always be shown the warning.
As with almost anything these days, there is always a at least small risk of fraud. Apart from the internet, this
can also happen 'behind the scenes' in the company's office. This is nothing to do with the internet, but the honesty
of staff. By using well-known traders with a reputation they wish to keep, the dangers can be kept to a minimum.
Always check credit card statements for unexpected entries and query them promptly. Get advice from Trading Standards
and the Police if you suspect dishonesty.
back
