Online Shopping Identity Theft

Online Shopping Identity Theft Accounts For Just Two Percent Of All Identity Thefts

The modern trend amongst people is to do their shopping online and the reasons for this is greater convenience as well as quicker shopping and there are also many good discounts being offered at many online stores. The numbers of online web stores and shopping sites have grown and you can find different and enticing deals at each of these places.

A Major Concern

The only trouble with online shopping is that there is an implied risk that online shoppers may become a victim of online shopping identity theft. It’s not surprising to find that in fact, online shopping identity theft is a major concern amongst all shoppers since there are many ways by which their credit card information as well as personal details can be compromised or stolen.

Though most cases of identity theft occur in actual brick and mortar stores, online shopping identity theft is a new and rapidly growing menace that must be dealt with adequately. The good news is that there are several preventive measures that can be taken to prevent online shopping identity theft and the simplest of these steps is to ensure shopping only at very secure and reputable sites.

Another preventive measure that can help combat online shopping identity theft is to ensure never saving your personal information on computers in public places or even on shared computers. This step will prevent unlawful access to your personal details.

You should not let the many new opportunities that have opened up with the advent of the Internet lull you into a false sense of security because online shopping identity theft is a growing threat that continues to affect those who are not careful about where and how they buy things online.

As a matter of fact, with more publicity being given to the threat of online shopping identity theft the numbers of people that do their shopping online seems to be coming down even though by and large online shopping is relatively safe. This threat perception is adversely affecting the revenues of many online stores though it must also be said that identity theft is just as rampant in brick and mortar stores as it is through online shopping.

It is therefore a good idea to learn about online identity theft and identify the possible reasons why it can affect you and then follow some simple and effective measures by which to prevent your identity from being stolen.

There is a ray of hope for those who shop online because it seems that at present only two percent of all identity thefts are attributable to online shopping identity theft; the rest of identity theft cases pertain to offline cases.