Ten Tips to Protect Your Identity While Holiday Shopping Online

[Escalader]

FWIW & FYI.

IMHO, the list is in inverse order, eg: do 10 first then 9 ..... 1 etc.


-{ Quote: "Ten Tips to Protect Your Identity While Holiday Shopping Online

Thursday November 1, 12:01 am ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Online holiday sales are projected to increase 21 percent in 2007, according to Forrester Research. But while consumers continue to increase their use of holiday shopping, there is also widespread fear that they will be the victims of identity theft. That's why Huntington Bank has developed ten tips that shoppers can follow to make for a safe and secure holiday season whether consumers are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

"At Huntington we understand how time-starved our customers are and how convenient online shopping can be," said Timothy J. Scholten, senior vice president responsible for Huntington's online banking. "Huntington's online banking site continues to be one of the top 10 sites in the country. We want to share our expertise with shoppers to give them peace of mind about their online transactions."

Make your list, check it twice and follow Huntington's ten cyber shopping tips:

1. Check your accounts daily for any activity you did not initiate. This
is especially needed during the busy holiday shopping season. You
should be able to log on quickly and check to see if there is any
unusual activity in your bank or credit card account that you did not
initiate. If there is, contact your bank immediately.

2. Do business with companies you know and trust. Research a company
before revealing personal or financial information online. Confirm an
online seller's physical address and phone number in case you need to
get in touch with them. If you get an email or pop-up message from the
seller while you're browsing that asks for financial information,
don't reply or click on the link in the message. Legitimate companies
don't ask for this information via email or pop-ups.

3. Watch out for fake "look-alike" sites. Some con artists disguise their
Web site as a well-known company's site. Check your browser's address
bar to make sure you're always using the correct Web site address. If
the Web site seems suspicious, leave it immediately and call the
company.

4. Check a company's privacy policy before doing business with it. A
company should allow you to know what personal information its Web
site is collecting, why and how it will be used. If you can't find a
privacy policy -- or if you can't understand it -- consider taking
your business to another site that's more security-conscious and
accommodating to customers.

5. Only provide personal information if you're on a secure Web site.
Once you are logged in, make sure the Web address starts with "https"
("s" means it's secure). For added safety, check for a site
certificate before submitting information on a secure page. Confirm
the owner of the certificate by clicking on the padlock icon at the
bottom of most browsers. You should see the owner listed as well as
the site address. This address should match the Web site address at
the top of the page; if they do not match, you may be at a fraudulent
Web site and should not enter personal data.

6. Never respond to emails asking you to "confirm" recent transactions
after you shop. These likely are "phishing" scams sent to lure private
information from you.

7. Maintain a paper trail. Print and save records of your online
transactions, including the product description and price, the online
confirmation/receipt, and copies of any email(s) you exchange with the
seller.

8. Do not share your passwords with anyone and never provide your social
security number, birth date, or mother's maiden name in an email.

9. Make sure all of your security software is up-to-date before you do
your online shopping. That includes anti-virus software, anti-spyware,
and firewalls.

10. Use a separate email account for your online shopping. You can set up
a free email account online through several different services." }-

[HURST]

Very useful guide.
Most of the suggestions are just common sense... but then again, common sense is not so common as we might think LOL
I'll print it and give a copy to my parents, girlfriend, etc...

[Jim Verard]

-{ Quote: "7. Maintain a paper trail. Print and save records of your online
transactions, including the product description and price, the online
confirmation/receipt, and copies of any email(s) you exchange with the
seller.

8. Do not share your passwords with anyone and never provide your social
security number, birth date, or mother's maiden name in an email." }-About the last item:

I am not sure I am following your explanation. If you live outside U.S., you have to give your "social security number" (in some countries, every citizen is required by law to have an ID number, sometimes two different ID numbers, one of them which have their digital prints, at least one of them and the others stay with the feds).

And if you're buying something from a virtual store, most of time you have to place your ID number when you're making a new register. Unless you're buying something from a free place like a board forum, or let's say, a place like EBay.

Even if you're selling/buying something from Ebay, for security reasons it's very important to have the ID number, that's how the person in charge of any negotiations will be identified. Sometimes, the bank requires the same ID number for you to make a payment. That depends: the kind of payment choosed from the buyer.

About the item 7 (seven), it's also important to authenticate all printed data on some place who deals with authenticated documents from contracts and that sort of thing. Why is that? Because, if you have a problem in the future, your proof will be rejected using the argument of "they could perfectly make all this thing home using a single computer". So, when you place a seal of authenticated, your documents are really more beliavable.

[Escalader]

-{ Quote: "About the last item:

I am not sure I am following your explanation. If you live outside U.S., you have to give your "social security number" (in some countries, every citizen is required by law to have an ID number, sometimes two different ID numbers, one of them which have their digital prints, at least one of them and the others stay with the feds).

And if you're buying something from a virtual store, most of time you have to place your ID number when you're making a new register. Unless you're buying something from a free place like a board forum, or let's say, a place like EBay.

Even if you're selling/buying something from Ebay, for security reasons it's very important to have the ID number, that's how the person in charge of any negotiations will be identified. Sometimes, the bank requires the same ID number for you to make a payment. That depends: the kind of payment choosed from the buyer.

About the item 7 (seven), it's also important to authenticate all printed data on some place who deals with authenticated documents from contracts and that sort of thing. Why is that? Because, if you have a problem in the future, your proof will be rejected using the argument of "they could perfectly make all this thing home using a single computer". So, when you place a seal of authenticated, your documents are really more beliavable." }-

Hi Jim:

None of is "mine" so I can't really explain this banks advice.

I think the last items is referring to including sensitive id info in EMAIL.

Never having bought / sold on ebay I can't comment, do they have https when you carry out a transaction?

At least this list of inverted 10 got people thinking! :thumb:

[dNor]

What's sad is all of that should be common knowledge for using the internet, but it isn't. The public's more informed about security than it used to be at least, but they're still pretty ignorant.

Articles like these, while trivial, are great for the "average internet user". :thumb:

[tradetime]

What's really sad, is that we need to worry about any of this, that there is an element of society that thinks it's big and clever to rip people off.
Just my rant ;)

[Escalader]

-{ Quote: "What's really sad, is that we need to worry about any of this, that there is an element of society that thinks it's big and clever to rip people off.
Just my rant ;)" }-

It's a rant I agree with.

Since ancient Rome, 10% of the people are dishonest nothing has changed that 10% only now, we have automated them and given over the www to them as well. :'(

[ccsito]

-{ Quote: "It's a rant I agree with.

Since ancient Rome, 10% of the people are dishonest nothing has changed that 10% only now, we have automated them and given over the www to them as well. :'(" }-

The more things change, the more they stay the same. ;)

[ccsito]

-{ Quote: "Hi Jim:

None of is "mine" so I can't really explain this banks advice.

I think the last items is referring to including sensitive id info in EMAIL.

Never having bought / sold on ebay I can't comment, do they have https when you carry out a transaction?

At least this list of inverted 10 got people thinking! :thumb:" }-

Yes, most of the purchasing goes to a https server (usually via Paypal) or another payment system. Ebay, itself, does not handle the money flow between buyer and seller. Or you have to mail a check (snail mail).

The bank that you cited offers a savings account rate of 5.31% for online accounts (US customers only), which is among the highest bank savings account rates in the country. You can deposit as little as $1
http://www.ufbdirect.com/ufbdirect/

[ccsito]

-{ Quote: "FWIW & FYI.

IMHO, the list is in inverse order, eg: do 10 first then 9 ..... 1 etc." }-

I sort of disagree with the order that you cited. Items 1-6 eliminates many of the "identity theft vectors" into your system.
Item # 7 would be a last resort task.
Item # 8 has been broadcast by every major PC business website, that just about everyone should know this, except for very new PC users.
Item #9 and 10 will help, but if you haven't done the earlier items, it is too late since you have been compromised even if you did them.

[Escalader]

-{ Quote: "I sort of disagree with the order that you cited. Items 1-6 eliminates many of the "identity theft vectors" into your system.
Item # 7 would be a last resort task.
Item # 8 has been broadcast by every major PC business website, that just about everyone should know this, except for very new PC users.
Item #9 and 10 will help, but if you haven't done the earlier items, it is too late since you have been compromised even if you did them." }-

Your order look okay to me as well.

The idea is select who you do business with first and track the account activity. The rest well ,you are right ,everyone should know them but well they don't. You know I know but the great mass if surveys are to be believed know that they shouldn't open spam but they do it out of human curiosity!

My goal was positive to try to raise awareness of the things to do. If even one fraud is avoided, I'm :)

See you ;D