Online shopping has made it easy for consumers to compare products and prices from the comfort of their own home. You no longer have to drive all the way to the store only to discover that the item you’re seeking is out of stock, wasting fuel and polluting the environment in the process. But while you might appreciate the convenience offered by online shopping, you probably also have concerns about the safety of using your credit cards in cyberspace.
Identity theft is nothing new, but the combination of lax security measures and determined hackers has made for a perfect storm of mineable data. And the people willing to break into company databases in order to steal your sensitive data are not likely to have any qualms about selling it to the highest bidder or racking up charges using your credit, especially online, where no ID is required. However, you can find ways to use your credit cards in at least as safe a manner as if you were shopping in-store. Here are some guidelines to observe.