Thanks

Virginia DeBolt — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:30:52 -0600

Thanks for the helpful information.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

Identity Theft

FeliciaDonovan — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:26:29 -0600

Virginia, great post as always. If I may, a few more suggestions:

Everyone is entitled to a free copy of their credit bureau reports from the major credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com and sign up. If you stagger viewing your reports, you can view your credit report every four months for free!

Also, anyone suspected of being the victim of identity theft should immediately report that to their local police department and ask them to enter their profile into the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database. They can then establish a password known only to the victim and law enforcement in case anyone attempts to use their identity in the future.

Felicia Donovan
Author, THE BLACK WIDOW AGENCY Series
www.feliciadonovan.com
www.blackwidowagency.com

Protecting Your Identity While Shopping Online

Virginia DeBolt — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 07:50:26 -0600

Tis the season to go shopping. Many of us are shopping online this year. Shop smart by following a few safety rules to protect your financial information.

There may be sites you know and trust. Big names like Amazon.com often get my dollars. I've used them in the past and trust their safety measures. When shopping from a smaller retailer where you may not have a known reputation to ensure your trust, there are a few things to look for.

Check for the locked padlock image on your browser's status bar or top bar. Seeing an image of a locked padlock on the web page itself is not a guarantee of security. The lock must be part of the built-in browser bar itself. Also look for "https://" (as opposed to http://) in your browser's location window. These two basic checks indicate that the site is using a secure server to protect your information.

Use strong passwords that contain both letters and numbers and change these passwords frequently. Don't use the same password on more than one site.

Keep records. Read and retain the email order confirmation you receive from the store. Check your credit card statements. It's a pain to read, but make sure the online store has a privacy policy and is going to protect your information. If a store doesn't publish a privacy policy, assume they have plans for your data that you won't like.

Use the power of the Internet itself to protect your name and credit card numbers even further with services like Google Checkout, PayPal Secure Card, or TrustedID.

Google Checkout protects your credit card information from sellers and can even keep your email address confidential. Google Checkout has a fraud protection policy to protect you from unauthorized purchases with Google Checkout, too. A Google account is all you need to get started.

A Reuters article about PayPal Secure card said

The new software utility, called the PayPal Secure Card, recognizes when a user lands on an e-commerce checkout page and automatically helps the user fill out the payment form in a secure way that also offers stepped-up fraud protections.

Secure Cards work on Windows computers running either Internet Explorer or Firefox.

At PayPal, learn more about PayPal's Secure Card and find out how to get a PayPal account if you don't already have one.

TrustedID goes well beyond identity protection such as what you get from Google Checkout or PayPal. You can use TrustedID to monitor your credit card, check on lenders, lock your credit, and remove your name from lists of pre-approved credit card offers.

It's always a good idea to keep your computer at home secure, too. Use virus and firewall protection such as Zone Alarm or other such services to keep snoopers out of the information stored on your computer.

BlogHer - Protecting Your Identity While Shopping Online - Comments

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Identity Theft

Protecting Your Identity While Shopping Online