Credit card fraud seems to be everywhere, and thieves love making use of internet shopping on the internet to steal people's credit card data because of the security it provides. Many consumers think the only option to be secure is to avoid shopping online all together. While this is a method to prevent credit card details from getting stolen and hacked, it also means that one can never ever again shop online. The online marketplace for goods and services is expanding at an alarming rate because people are aware of the ease with which they can find the best deals while shopping online. If one does not shop on the internet, you'd be giving up on all the great bargains. Utilizing this method to prevent credit card fraud is like choosing not to fly on an airplane again in order to stay away from terrorists. True, one would not be a victim of any terrorist attack that involved planes, however that also means having to endure the hassle of not being able fly during travel. As with all things in life, the key is not to avoid the problem however, it is to be aware of the issue and adopt an appropriate strategy to lessen the possibility of becoming the victim of credit card fraud while shopping online.

First, let's talk about steps one can take if credit card fraud has already happened. There's no need to be in a panic. When a cardholder discovers that their credit card details have been compromised and the credit card company will not hold the cardholder liable for any fraudulent charges, even for charges made before reporting the credit card information is stolen. A credit card provider will then shut the card off from further use and issue a new card within one or two weeks however this is an inconvenience most people would prefer not to have to handle If they could.

The next step is to utilize the Secure Browsing Tool to check if an online site is safe to visit, assuming one trusts Google naturally. The Amazon gutschein tool will tell you if a website is not safe or not, when Google has last examined it, and if the site has was involved in any suspicious activity previously, as well as report whether it's linked to any suspicious websites, even if the site itself isn't doing anything suspicious. To see if a website is safe, simply copy and paste "http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=" into the address field on the browser, and then add the url of the site to be visited. For example, to a company's website, just enter "http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=websiteurlhere.com" into the address bar of the browser being used. Once you've entered this, Google's tool will bring an easy half-page report on whether the site that you are looking at is secure or not.

Another layer of protection you can take while shopping online is to use trusted 3rd payment options. Nearly everyone has had the pleasure of using PayPal. They are probably the most popular third payment method used in the world. They permit users to make payment for goods and services via them. This means, for instance, that if a buyer purchases a product, she is not directly paying the website that she is shopping on. The amount is due to PayPal after which PayPal will pay the merchant this means that the retailer is not able to see her credit card information and her credit card information was never transmitted over the internet during this transaction. It does not matter if the customer shops at one website or a hundred websites. As long, as a 3rd party payment method was utilized the credit card details were not transmitted, so the information does not get tossed around on online at each website a purchase was made. Other 3rd party payment methods that are similar to PayPal comprise, Google Wallet and Amazon Payments.

Armed with this knowledge, online shoppers can make sure the websites they visit are secure to shop at and make sure they do not input sensitive information while making purchases. So, there is no reason to ignore every opportunity to save money on shopping online due to fear of credit card information being stolen.