Ways to Stay Safe When Spending Money Online

Spending money is an activity that is very easy to do. In fact, it’s become frightening easy thanks to internet technology and apps that allow you to transfer funds at the touch of a button. Of course, this has done wonders for the international world in regards to commerce, as now, nothing is holding people back from spending money and trading goods across international borders.

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The issue with the internet, in one small form, is that people don’t know that you have to be careful with where and how you’re spending your money online. When you think about it, the internet is like one giant vending machine. Hopefully, most of the times that you put your money in the system, you’ll be rewarded with the prize for your coin, but sometimes, the money gets eaten and you get jipped. There are plenty of cases like this out in cyberspace, so here are ways to stay safe when spending money online:

Use Websites That Are Certified Secure

Not only are there millions of sites out there that are loaded with bots and malware that aims to hack your computer and steal valuable information from you, there are also sites out there that aim to lure you into buying a product that never gets delivered. It happens all the time. People put in their payment information for something cute, cheap, or cool, and the product never comes, or it comes extremely late, and the vendors take off with your money.

To stop this from happening to you, use websites that have an SSL certificate. Different certificates from different outlets ensure different things, so do a little bit of research to know what certificate is best, and then be sure to only use internet outlets that have these certificates.

Never Use A Personal Debit Card Online

This is something that everybody should know about and execute. Your personal debit card is great, and it’s meant to be used for purchases, but you should never use it to purchase things online because if you happen to get hacked, that’s a direct line to your bank and your money and you’ll be left with an empty account, and if you’re unlucky, a stolen identity.

When spending money online, instead use a credit card. This will be beneficial to you in several ways: One, you’ll build credit. Two, you’ll be able to stack up airline points or cash back bonuses for your use of the card, and three, but not the last perk, if you are hacked, the credit card company is the one that has to front the cost of the hack. All you have to do is call them up and explain that you didn’t make whatever purchase ended up on your card.