Secure Shopping Online

[Samuel4u]

Shopping online is rapidly becoming the preferred mode of bargain hunting for many. In 2007 Britons spent a whopping £55.3 billion via the web – an increase of roughly a third on the previous year – and we have already dropped £13 billion into web retailers’ (or etailers’) tills in the first three months of 2008, according to IMRG, the trade body for UK online retailers.

The problem is, as spending increases, so does fraud and the number of online Del Boys trying to relieve us of our cash. Losses from “card not present†fraud, where criminals use stolen credit card details to buy goods online or over the phone, are approaching £300m a year, warns Apacs, the banking payments trade body.

The good news is that there are plenty of simple steps you can take to protect yourself from the scammers or from finding yourself at the sharp end of iffy practices by even the biggest etailers. We’ll show you how to enjoy the best of the global bazaar yet steer clear of any infected web pages, pay for goods securely and unearth the best guides to your extensive consumer rights if it does all go wrong.

PROTECT YOURSELF

The web can seem benign, but it is full of nasties lying in wait to ambush the unprotected shopper. A growing trend is for scammers to lure you to a fake website that looks like a well known site and then steal your credit card details – a practice known as “pharmingâ€. Others try to get your computer to inadvertently download dodgy software (or “malwareâ€) that later steals your personal details. Even legitimate websites have been “injected†with similar malware.

So how should you protect yourself? Get Safe Online, the government-backed consumer website, is a crucial pit stop. It advises you to always download the latest version of your web browser as these have built-in filters than can spot many fake websites. To be sure of exactly which site you are visiting, download and install SpoofStick, which will then display the real name of the website in the top of your browser window.

Antivirus software and a firewall are also must-haves. Yet a 2006 YouGov poll for Get Safe Online found more than a fifth of UK internet users didn’t employ a firewall and a sixth lacked antivirus software. Many companies sell a bloated suite of internet security software that often slows your computer down. So before you rush to invest, take advice on what you need. The market for one-stop security suites is competitive but ZoneAlarm 7 is hard to beat. Many providers offer free versions of specific software in the hope you will buy their full package later.

AVG antivirus from Grisoft is an excellent program that even automatically scans links on search results to see if they lead to known scammer sites. McAfee Site Advisor is an unobtrusive tool that uses a traffic-light system to warn you about the validity of any link before you click on it. Want a firewall configure or spyware protection ? Try Comodo Firewall Pro or Spyware Terminator.