I do a ton of on-line shopping, I shop on-line more than I do from stores now, it's just easier. But I only buy from sites that are reputable and have security. I only let 2 on-line sites store my credit card info, because I use them a lot, but I really trust the security on those sites.

Plus I know my bank's fraud group is really vigilant, about tracking usage patterns and on-line purchases. Last week I made 2 on-line purchases relatively closely together. There was a screw up on one of the sites and they tried to charge my card twice. This was enough to trigger my card's fraud group. The next day, I went to use my card to pay for dinner at a restaurant, and the card was declined. Talk about embarrassing, but fortunately I have other cards. When I got home there was an urgent message on my voicemail to call my bank's fraud group. 3 transactions totalling less than 100 was enough for them to flag my card and freeze it so no further transactions could go through until they spoke to me and verified that I'd made the purchase. That makes me feel a lot better about shopping on-line. Sure having the card declined was a bit inconvenient, but it makes me feel really good about my card's security.

I don't know if my bank is like this with all customers or if my accounts are flagged. I was a victim of identity theft last summer as a result of my wallet being stolen, so I had fraud alerts put on my file at all the credit bureaus and at my bank.

So I'm going to keep happily shopping on-line.

--splitimage