When shopping online, you’ll often have several choices for payment. There’s virtually always credit card options, but PayPal and Google Pay are also commonly available. These options tend to be more secure than entering credit card information because they don’t require you to share any card numbers with the seller. PayPal is especially notable: They’ll […]

Some sites or people online might say they need your credit card information for something like identity verification. Don’t respond to these requests. Be extremely careful whenever you give anyone or any website or app financial information that can be used to charge you.

Entering your card number into a website is both a hassle and a possible risk if someone is looking over your shoulder or monitoring the network. A better alternative is to just use something like PayPal or Apple Pay, which allows you to check out with a relatively streamlined process using pre-saved payment details.

When shopping online, get the maximum possible security and privacy for your transactions. That means never buying anything while connected to public or open Wi-Fi networks, or even to the Wi-Fi of someone you don’t know well. Stick to your own Wi-Fi or to cellular service like 5G for the safest results.

Many e-commerce web sites have pretty good security. But a great way to increase your security is to pay with credit, or a prepaid gift and do not use debit.  This may protect your identity and further protect your bank account from theft.

There’s always a chance someone’s trying to catch the financial information you send out. While it’s bad if they get your credit card number, it’s potentially even worse if they have your debit card information. If money is withdrawn from your debit account by a bad actor, there’s probably no getting it back, so avoid […]