Get your credit report regularly
Having full knowledge on how your expenses are faring will allow you to note any irregular or malicious expenditures on your credit card. Be sure to receive your reports from your creditors on regular intervals for easy monitoring of credit. Report any errors to your creditor and solve them to avoid running into debts that you did not anticipate. Report any malicious and unauthorized use of your credit card by known or unknown persons to the authorities.

Don’t share your credit knowledge
How much you are worth should be your own secret. Sharing your monetary status with people exposes you to the risk of being an identity theft target.

Use card protection
Most creditors offer card protection services to their online users. They use single-use credit card numbers which are meant for online transactions only. This means that if someone else steals your card, they can’t use it to buy anything else.

Keep your card safe
Lock your card in a cabinet or drawer if you are not using it. Avoid leaving your wallet or purse with your card anywhere as someone may gain access to it. A good rule of thumb is to only carry one credit card at a time if you must carry one, and leave the rest secured someplace safe and out of the potential reach of thieves.

Check out credit card statements
The small credit-card charges being charged by persons or companies accumulate to large amounts in the long run. Some may be charging as little as $1 in the name of verifying whether your credit card works. The best thing to do is to talk to your creditor’s customer care agents and ask them to set up alerts for such suspicious charges. The services are offered free of charge and they will contact you in case someone charges you without your knowledge.

Get your credit report regularly
Having full knowledge on how your expenses are faring  will allow you to note any irregular or malicious expenditures on your credit card. Be sure to receive your reports from your creditors on regular intervals for easy monitoring of credit. Report any errors to your creditor and solve them to avoid running into debts that you did not anticipate. Report any malicious and unauthorized use of your credit card by known or unknown persons to the authorities.

Don’t share your credit knowledge
How much you are worth should be your own secret. Sharing your monetary status with people exposes you to the risk of being an identity theft target.

Use card protection
Most creditors offer card protection services to their online users. They use single-use credit card numbers which are meant for online transactions only. This means that if someone else steals your card, they can’t use it to buy anything else.

Keep your card safe
Lock your card in a cabinet or drawer if you are not using it. Avoid leaving your wallet or purse with your card anywhere as someone may gain access to it. A good rule of thumb is to only carry one credit card at a time if you must carry one, and leave the rest secured someplace safe and out of the potential reach of thieves.

Check out credit card statements
The small credit-card charges being charged by persons or companies accumulate to large amounts in the long run. Some may be charging as little as $1 in the name of verifying whether your credit card works. The best thing to do is to talk to your creditor’s customer care agents and ask them to set up alerts for such suspicious charges. The services are offered free of charge and they will contact you in case someone charges you without your knowledge.

There are a number of reasons why so many people are taking part in shopping online.  These include convenience and the lower cost of merchandise on the Net in many instances.  While there are some tremendous benefits that can be realized through shopping online, there are also some risks.  For example, many identity thieves lurk on the Internet in one way or another looking for unsuspecting people from whom they can steal identities.

You are Not Always Protected When Cyber Shopping

The bottom line reality is that when you are cyber shopping, your identity is not always appropriately protected.  There are thousands of innocent people who fall prey to identity thieves when online each and every day.

The reality is that even when you are shopping at a reputable merchant on the Net you can be exposed to identity thieves who are using high tech applications to steal your ID.  Despite the fact that you are not always fully protected when you are shopping online you need to know that there are some steps that you can – indeed, must – take in order to better protect your identity when you are cyber shopping.

Patronize Only Reputable Merchants

While this is not 100% foolproof, you can take a significant step towards protecting your identity when you are online by shopping at only reputable online merchants.  As was noted a moment ago, the potential can exist for ID theft even when you are doing business with a reputable merchant.  However, and again, you markedly reduce your risk of becoming a victim of ID theft if you restrict your shopping to those stores and businesses that have well established reputations, that have long established track records for being reliable.

Protect Your Financial and Personal Information

You need to be very conservative about how and when you provide financial or personal information.  In this regard you want to provide this information only when you know you are dealing with a reputable business on the Net.  Moreover, you will only want to provide this sensitive information when it is conveyed in a secure environment.  In other words, you do not want to simply email financial information to a firm on the Net that you are interested in doing business with at this point in time.

Use a Special Credit Card When Cyber Shopping

Yet another step that you can take to better protect your identity when cyber shopping is to use a credit card (with a low credit level) when shopping online.  By taking this step you will be able to at least limit your immediate exposure to identity theft to some degree.

Tips to Keep Your Credit Card Safe

•    Never leave your credit cards unattended whether in a wallet, purse, or briefcase
•    Don’t carry around a lot credit cards that you don’t intend to use
•    Always get your credit card receipt from merchants; there is a high possibility that your credit card number is included there
•    Don’t discard your receipts in a public trash can
•    Shred documents that contain sensitive data before disposing them from your home
•    Never provide your credit card information to a person you don’t know. If you initiated the call, it might be safer but it is still not recommended
•    Ignore emails that ask for your credit card information. Take note that phishing and fake emails are the top sources of fraud online
•    Review your credit card statement carefully as soon as it arrives. Write a complaint form if there is any inaccuracy
•    Request a credit card report from the three credit reporting agencies. There might be an unauthorized application under your name

When you give personal information such as your full name, address, phone number, credit card number, Social Security number, and even your birthday, keep in mind that this information can be used against you. It is important to reveal these types of sensitive data to a business or an organization you trust. Internet users are particularly vulnerable to credit card fraud. Aside from the threat of hacking, most websites actually use cookies to retain information on your hard disk.

There are three common types of identity thefts – bank fraud, phone fraud, and credit card fraud. In whatever method they use, these criminals gain access to your account information, pretend to be you and purchase items or open new lines of credit, withdraw money from your account and so on. However, these are some ways to protect yourself from these thieves.

•    Don’t bring all your credit cards wherever you go.

If you limit the number of cards you carry, you won’t lose that much in case you are robbed. Also, make sure you don’t bring with you records of PIN.  

•    Lock your credit profiles at the credit bureaus.

You have the right to call the credit bureaus and ask them to freeze your accounts. This way, no new credit can be made without your permission and no one or no company can gain access to your credit profile without your consent. By locking your credit profile, only you and the companies or banks you have credit relationship with can view your profile. This step is very beneficial because it closes one of the avenues where thieves get your personal info and it stops pre-approved credit applications from arriving at your mailbox.

•    Get a Post Office box

This is a locked mailbox that keeps your incoming mails safe from everyone, especially from thieves. When you already have this secure mailbox, have your check, bills, and other important mails sent to this locked box.

•    Be extra careful when giving away your personal information.

Since this can’t be avoided when shopping or doing transactions online, make sure that the person or company you’re dealing with is legitimate. Before you type your credit card number, look at the address bar first and make sure that the site’s URL starts with “Https”.  Also look for the closed padlock symbol at the bottom right hand corner of your browser. If that symbol appears, it means your browser is strongly connected to the website.