Shopping Online

Shopping online can be safe. In fact, it can be safer than shopping in person. The skills you have learned about spoofed websites, secure websites, and password management you have learned in this course can make your online shopping enjoyable and very safe.

Start with names you know

Remember that anyone can create a legitimate-looking website in a few minutes at a very low cost. Your best bet is to shop names that you already know are legitimate companies.

Get that URL right

Spoofed sites sometimes use common misspellings of well-known names. Take the time to double-check that the website address is correct.

Look for that lock icon

Your connection has to be secure in order to pass any private information like a credit card number. That lock icon means that any data you send or receive is encrypted and safe from prying internet snoops.

Use a strong unique password to create an account

Accounts are often compromised because victims use easy-to-guess passwords like “123456”, “password” or “pa$$word.” Take the time to create a strong password and use it only once!

Is it safe to let a website store your credit card information?

For established brands normally yes. But always use a credit card for extra fraud protection. You can also add an extra layer of protection by using a virtual payment service or virtual card. We’ll cover that in the next section.