Credit Cards and Debit Cards Online
Your credit card is a very important to you. Many people use them to make their online payments for things such as their house or even utility bills. Your debit card links directly to your bank account in most cases. As such, making sure that you keep your credit card safe online is important to you. There are multiple ways to steal someones identity. The online identity theft practice is growing and we need to take steps to avoid it. While we can't always avoid it or prevent it, a few tips about using your credit card both offline and online will be helpful to you.
Whether you use your credit card or debit card online or offline, do not walk away and leave your receipt. While most will hide the number, some do not. In addition, you will be leaving a complete record of your banking activity and you will in many cases leave a record of how much money you have left in your bank account.
NEVER give away information about your bank account online if you do not see the small padlock or the https symbol on the website that is asking for it. Instead, one way to be more secure is to go to Paypal and get a one time use debit card number. This gives you the means to put in a specific amount of money into your account and then use the card number one time. It cannot be used more than once so if someone does find or use the number, Paypal will assure that they can only take a given amount of money from your paypal account. This is a great way to order online for those who are ttrying to be more careful with their banking or credit card information.
No bank will ask you to log into your account by clicking a link in email. If you get an email asking you to log into your Paypal or your bank account, you will quite likely be looking at a phishing email. Never click the link. If you are curious and unsure whether or not the email is genuine, chances are that it is not. Rather than clicking the link in the email that you received, go to your bank account website using the browser and type in the correct url manually. In most cases what happens with the email is that you will be directed to a website where a software is installed that will grab your keystrokes. This is called a keylogger and this will steal your paypal or bank account password. They can then use it for their own ends.
Most identity theft does not take place online. In fact about 60 percent of all identity theft takes place offline, but some does happen here. It pays to be careful with your credit card and debit card information in order to prevent your finances from making someone else wealthier.