Online Payment Tips

The primary concern for everyone in an online payment system is account security. Online transaction fraud throw traps every step of the way for unsuspecting customers and merchants, who have to deal with ghost payments, charges of unknown origin or amounts mysteriously disappearing from their accounts.

*Make sure you are logging into the exact url of your online payment system's web portal. Many phishers gain entry into your account by mimicking the look of legitimate log-in webpages, often using a website address with additional characters after the legitimate original.

*Your password is your most important shield; never jot it down or share it, and keep tabs of the other places where you use it. Online fraud experts recommend that you create a password with at least eight characters, and one that's a combination of letters (uppercase and lowercase) and numbers.

*With online payment systems, be careful about access to your email account. Be wary about accessing any of your financial information from a public computer terminal. Install anti-virus and anti-phishing software on your computer, and make use of website-checking services provided by some internet browsers and other third parties.

*Fight identity theft: shred any billing statement, receipt or financial document that you need to discard, carry only the least amount of identification that you need with you, and beware of unsolicited emails or calls that ask for your account information.

*Go for online payment systems that offer advanced anti-fraud devices like log-in keys. Log-in keys change the password for your account very frequently and are nearly impossible to override or hack.