Online Shopping & Internet Marketing

This article is written neither to promote nor criticize the Paypal online mode of payment. With the rapid growth in the number of Paypal users, frauds and email scams on Paypal accounts has become more frequent and severe. Our network team has put together a report on the current Paypal frauds and Paypal email scams being perpetuated by various groups of fraudsters. We also offer advice for users of Paypal to help them reduce the chances of becoming victims of such frauds and scams. As the usage of the internet has increased in handling online transactions, both buyers and sellers need to become aware of safe practices to operate online payments or online receipt of funds.

To access a Paypal account you need to have the username and password of the account. The username of a Paypal account is the main email address (primary email address) used to register the account. The owner of the account would also set up a password to be used along with the username to access the account. The security system is quite secure as long as the username and password of the Paypal account are known only to the actual owner of the account. If these details are available to anyone else it would mean that the security of that Paypal account has been compromised. Anyone acquiring the username and password of any Paypal account can access and perform all functions that the actual owner of the account could do.

In this article we will try to explain in simple terms how confidential login information of an actual Paypal account owner can be robbed and misused. We will then provide important and simple suggestions that would reduce the chances of such a fraud being committed on your Paypal account.

(a) Being careless with your information: This type of Paypal fraud can be committed very easily and does not require too much effort on the part of the fraudster. Users very often write down their login details for various websites with the fear of forgetting them. Anyone having access to these written details can login to the Paypal account and treat the account as if it was his own. Another possibility that could easily open a Paypal account to fraud is when the user selects a very simple or easy password that can be easily guessed. People with bad intentions need to make a few guesses before they arrive at the correct password to enter the Paypal account. These are the simplest ways in which a Paypal fraud can be committed and they do not require any email scam to be done.

(b) Identity theft through a Paypal email scam: Paypal phishing or identity theft as it is commonly known, involves an attempt by a fraudster to extract the login details of a Paypal account from the actual owner of the account. Armed with these detais, the fraudster can be very dangerous as full control of the Paypal account can be excercised.  In this case, emails will be randomly sent to many email addresses informing the receiver of a certain activity in their Paypal account. For these Paypal email scams to work, the receiver of the email will need to login to his Paypal account by clicking a link on the email. The exact contents of each Paypal email scam might differ but the objective remains the same. Once the user clicks the link in the email, he is taken to a web page that closely resembles a regular Paypal login page. This page is infact a fake and is hosted by the fraudster (not Paypal) with the sole purpose of collecting confidential login details from the actual owner of the Paypal account. If the owner of the Paypal account falls for this trick, his account will soon be operated by the fraudster and this could lead to heavy losses. Attempts to phish Paypal accounts have become quite common and each time a fraudster unleashes his cruel trick a number of innocent Paypal accounts become victims.

The online shopping industry continues to grow. A lot have been turning towards shopping online instead of the conventional way. Because of this, the number and variety of products that can be bought online have also grown. You can shop for items ranging from fruits to CD’s to clothes, and the items, which you want, could be bought and delivered in literally one click. Now that is convenient and hassle-free shopping.

However, you would need to consider a couple of pointers if you are planning to land the greatest deals and find the best online stores. You would also have to be extremely cautious when doing business online due to the issues concerning security. Here are some fairly simple tips in order to make your overall shopping experience online fun, practical and safe.

First, you would need to purchase from a reputable company whose online business has been experienced by a substantial number of people. A lot of the larger companies have also begun selling their products online, and so if you would be purchasing from these bigger companies, the risks for fraud or receiving items of poor quality are definitely lower.

You might also want to opt for a secure server as you shop online using your credit card. Make sure that you are using an updated version of your internet browser, as this would also increase security. Also, a lot of shopping websites already use encrypted information so hackers are prevented from stealing personal details.

Make use of an online directory in finding the best shopping websites and deals. Shopping directories are also great when you are searching for shopping websites since the stores are categorized, making it easy to locate the kinds of stores you are looking for. Sometimes these stores also have store reviews that would also be very helpful for online shoppers.

Also make sure that you shop around first so that you will be certain that you will be making the best purchases available. There are a lot of special offers and discounts online – you would just have to look for them.

Finally, remember to read the company’s return policy and privacy policy so that you would know exactly what to expect. If you could, try to print the page for future reference.