'Tis the season, so the so called journalists need to strike fear into the general public and make you think it's safer to shop in a store instead of online. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen all of the same tips on every “news” show on TV. The media’s fear mongering tactics irk me to begin with, but when they rehash the same stories without any more research year after year I get seriously annoyed.
It is safer to shop online then shopping in a store or using a credit card at a restaurant.
Many stores keep paper copies of your credit card info, then they throw them away. There are many people who love to dumpster dive this season. If you don’t know, dumpster diving is when someone sifts through business garbage looking for useful items such as credit card info, post it notes with usernames and passwords, etc.... When that server at that restaurant takes your credit card up to pay for your meal, they could be scanning it twice; some servers get paid up to $125 per card swiped.
Most data theft comes from an inside job at some company that has your identity information. Credit card companies, school loan companies, hospitals, doctors offices, government offices, etc…
As long as the website you are buying something from is one of the bigger sites that has been around a while, you have less to fear about getting your identity stolen. Everything is done electronically, less people at the business has access to your data, and most of the time everything is completed automatically.
Be safe this season, shop online.
Merry Christ's Mass!