The convenience of what you can do online seems to grow each day as more retailers create online stores to shop at and more bill providers make it easier for their customers to pay online. We rely less on physical shopping at actual stores and banks and rely more on sitting behind a computer screen when it comes to paying for the things we want or need. Scammers know just how much we rely on technology and take advantage of this on a daily basis as they come up with numerous creative ways to steal our personal and financial information. Because of this, we often wonder the question: Is it safe to pay online?
Hackers perform data breaches on companies, leaking their private data that includes their customers’ personal information. This could include your name, email address, phone number, address, and most importantly… your credit card information.
When a data breach happens for a business, your account information is also leaked onto the dark web. They can also trick you with a phishing link that looks legit to give them your account information. Usually, these emails look real, stating that your account is being compromised, and the link to reset your password looks legit.
People then trust this link and enter their information, giving scammers access to their accounts. Therefore, scammers can use your log-in information to go onto your account and collect your financial information if you aren’t careful.
Emails can contain links to websites with a bunch of bugs called malware that can secretly get downloaded onto your device and steal your information. This information can contain your credit card and/or debit card numbers, your online account information, and your personal information such as your name, email address, SSN, and birthday.
The scammers can then take this information and perform identity theft, steal your accounts from you, and copy your card numbers to make purchases under your name and steal your money.
Scammers send phishing emails to their victims with links so that they can download malware secretly on the victims’ devices. They also include a legit-looking form for victims to fill out their personal information. This form could also contain a slot for victims to fill out their card information, thinking that they are purchasing something but in reality, scammers are actually stealing money from them.
If the form doesn’t have a slot for you to fill out your card information, this doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Scammers can still steal your personal information, call your bank, and pretend to be you to gain access to this information.
Using a card to shop online is fairly safe with secure connections, but not totally safe. There are things that are out of your control, such as a data breach at your favorite online store or a personal data breach where your information is stolen. However, there are also things you can do personally to make sure no one has access to your card information like being careful when you click on random links or performing virus scans on your computer.
One thing you can do when wondering “is it safe to pay online,” is to avoid using your debit card for online purchases and use your credit card instead.
When someone steals your debit card information, your whole bank account is in danger of being compromised. When scammers make purchases using your debit card, they are taking money directly out of your bank account which becomes difficult to trace and get it back. It then becomes harder for you to dispute these charges and claim that they weren’t yours, to begin with.
Additionally, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act for debit cards states that you need to let your financial institution know within 2 days that your card has been used if you want to be liable for only $50. Any later than that but within 60 days of the unauthorized transactions and you could be responsible for $500 of the stolen purchases. If you wait longer than 60 days, you could be held responsible for every unauthorized penny spend on your account.
Even though the Electronic Fund Transfer Act exists, most financial institutions will still offer zero-liability debit cards so you are not responsible for scammers’ purchases. However, you would be on your own if you dispute purchases on your card made by a scammer. With a credit card, the card issuer partners up with you to get your money back, hence why a credit card would be the best option to use for online purchases.
Along with this, if you use a credit card you automatically become protected by the Truth in Lending Act. This act states that you’re not liable for any credit card debts if you report your card as lost or stolen before the unauthorized transactions are made. Along with this, there is a $50 limit on liability even when there is credit card fraud.
At Social Catfish, we can help you figure out who has your personal and financial information. All you need to do is reverse search a name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image of the person who is scamming you out of this information for us to look into who it actually is. Is it safe to pay online? With Social Catfish, we make it a whole lot safer to do so.
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Social Catfish is an online dating investigation service based in California, USA. We verify information to confirm if the person that you've met online is really who they say they are.
We do in depth checks using our own proprietary online tools to verify things like images, social profiles, phone numbers, emails, jobs and a lot more to make sure that you have the most information about the person that you've met online. We are the only company doing verification of public information such as jobs, phone numbers criminal checks as well as social profiles and images.
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