Buying on the internet

I recommend that you be very cautious about purchasing anything on the internet. Why? The internet is large, new and unprotected in many cases. It is incredibly easy for a fly-by-night schemer to set up shop, defraud some people, then move on without getting caught. And it's often difficult to determine who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.

Not to mention the problems of credit card fraud, privacy invasion and other unseemly attacks on your money and good name. Some of the dangers include:

• Your credit card numbers can be stolen by any number of means. These credit cards will then be charged up as high as they will go. You are legally protected from this kind of thing, but you have to report it quick and you will not be able to use the disputed amount while it is being investigated.

• Spammers can get hold of your email address and send you undesired advertisements.

• Unauthorized people can get your personal information and use it against you in some way.

• In extreme cases, people may use your social security number (and other numbers) to gain credit in your name. This is called identity theft.

Here are some suggestions to help fight some of these things.

1. Make sure you are using a secure link. This is easy to determine, as you will see the "https" in the site address.  Your browser may also display a locked symbol.

2. Do not ever use your debit card. Some banks say you will not be liable for fraud, but that won't help in the short term with your checking account empty. Use a credit card so that liability is covered with the banks money, not yours.

3. Get a small, $500 credit limit card for internet purchases and pay it off each month. This way, your maximum exposure is $500. If someone uses it fraudulently you won't be liable anyways as long as you follow the reporting rules, but it's nice to limit even that small liability.

4. Always use a credit card for purchases on the internet. If your number is stolen it will be protected.

5. Be sure you are on the site that you think you are on. Check the address (URL) and make sure you've spelled it correctly.

6. Don't give out more information than needed to complete the purchase.

7. I'd keep a notebook with a list of what was purchased when. This would be valuable if the product did not arrive as expected.

8. Be sure to save receipts to your disk drive.

9. Be careful of scams. If it looks too good to be true, it's probably a lie.

10. If you are purchasing anything substantial, you might try checking out the company's customer service first. You can call their 800 number or send an email and see how long it takes to respond.