As you get ready to shop for those holiday gifts make sure that you take extra precautions when visiting sites online. Make sure to never click on a link in an email to a store since that could be a phishing email trying to take advantage of consumers shopping this holiday season. The internet has become the largest virtual market on the planet and there are millions of transactions that take place everyday. In those interactions you exchange information about yourself and sometimes your credit that is supposed to be secure. While most sites offer a secure setting for your to pay and shop online there have been more Phishing sites that mimic the actual merchant and are used solely for the purpose of collecting personal and financial information to be sold to the highest bidder. Identity theft happens about every three seconds and affects about every 1 in 5 Americans.
Tags: identity theft