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Consumers Fear ID Theft for Online Shopping.
According to a report issued by Consumer Reports WebWatch, a
quarter of Internet users have stopped making online purchases for fear of identity theft.
The report, issued last week, finds that 80 percent of Internet users are at least somewhat concerned that someone might steal their identity from the personal information available on the Web. Most Internet users, 86 percent, have made at least one change in their behavior because of fears of identity theft.
Of those who shop online, 29 percent say they have cut back on how often they buy products on the Internet. Thirty percent of users reveal that they have reduced their overall use of the Internet due to these fears, and 53 percent say they have stopped giving out personal information online, according to the report. More than half (54 percent) of those who shop online say they have become more likely to read a site's privacy policy or user agreement before making a purchase.
We advise consumers to check the Affiliations of the e-commerce site for their Privacy Guarantees. A license and seal of approval by an organization such as Trust-e is a postive indication that the website is protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your submitted information.
Same goes for the website's shopping cart: Make sure that it is SSL encrypted and that it has a Seal of Approval from a known and reliable
Credit Card processing Company such as Verisign.
