A lot of monetary transactions go on online and over the course of few months, billions of dollars are being spent. More so, some fraudulent folks are busy night and day devising how best to steal them. However, if you appropriately protect yourself and guard against the menace, you will not be a victim.

The truth is that online shopping is the ultimate way to go. It presents to you a lot of bargains, selection and security. It is a fast way to go and presents interesting returns especially when you shop from the right e-retailer. Online shopping outmatches offline shopping in every aspect.

However, ID’s Third Quarter eCrime Report for 2011 outlined that there is a reduction in phishing over the course of the second and third quarter of 2010. Phishing is a process employed by online fraudsters to siphon your credit card info and sign-in credentials. Mostly, they do this by acting as though they are real websites or online banks. However, the same report pointed out that malware sites have increased by about 89 percent over the course of last year.

No matter how alarming these statistics are, they should not dissuade you from shopping online. To protect yourself here, you need some practical advices and sense. The guidelines provided to you here will help you to guard against these menaces and shop with confidence online.

• Use familiar websites

Rather than shopping with a search engine, use a trusted website. You may be led astray if you go by the results provided by the search engine. However, if you are sure of the site, the chance of being cheated is greatly reduced. For instance, Amazon.com is a household name used by all and sundry and there are many other genuine sites like that. Ensure that you do not spell the site wrongly or use a different top-level domain for the site.

• Check for the lock

Ensure that a site is SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encrypted before you buy anything on it with your credit card. The easiest way of knowing whether a site is SSL encrypted is if its URL begins with HTTPS:// rather than just HTTP://. Usually, when the site is encrypted, an icon of a locked padlock shows in the browser’s status bar when you open it but this depends on the browser. This shows that you are highly protected when you make use of such site for any of your purchases.

• Do not give out all your information

A genuine online shopping store will not ask your social security number or your birthday. They do not need it to do any of their business. Nonetheless, you may be in danger if you give out such details to fraudsters. Fraudulent folks have more power over you when they know more about your details. To avoid this, ensure that you do not give out much of your information. Place a limit on the amount of information you give out.

• Check Statements

It is important to regularly check online for the electronic statements of your checking accounts, debit and credit cards even before the end of the month. You should carefully check the charges on your accounts and if you notice any sign of fraudulent charges on even the most secure sites like PayPal, try as much as possible to question the charges and ensure it is genuine before you pay.

You can call the card issuer to fix the problem. You need to do this before 30 days because after 30 days, you will be held responsible for the charges.