Shopping is not one of the more dangerous sports that you can take part in, but it does certainly come with its own risks. Apart from the occasional fashion disaster, there is always the risk of you being pick pocketed, and with your purse constantly coming in and out of your handbag, there is the risk of you being careless. Even changing in a changing room has its risks - how many people leave their handbag on the floor? It is then so easy for someone next to you to slide it under the partition and walk off with it.



So surely shopping online from the comfort and safety of your own home represents a much safer alternative? Certainly the physical risks to you are no longer an issue, but the risks to your money and private details are actually far greater, and if you aren't careful, crimes can be committed against you without you having any idea at all, until you get a call from your bank asking whether there was any good reason you had transferred your entire savings to an off shore bank account, taken out three loans and a mortgage.

The problem with data is that it is usually just simply numbers, and anyone can pretend to be anyone else, as long as they know the right numbers. Whether it is your PIN, access codes, passwords, usernames, credit card numbers and so forth, anyone with that information is free to pretend to be you.

When you decide to make a purchase online, do you know who is to be trusted, and how you can tell? Or do you just go on gut instinct, or take a gamble? If it's either gut instinct or a gamble, you are not only treading on thin ice, but there is an almost certain chance that it will crack, and you'll soon start to regret your carelessness.

It isn't even the case that going with a known and trusted name is good enough for security reasons, because many criminals create false websites that are cloned straight from the official ones, and publish these on the internet using a slight misspelling of the company's web address. So, if you were about to shop at examples.com you may find that if you mistype it and enter example.com that you arrive at what looks just like the real site. You may even happily enter your private details, but you're not going to receive your goods, because the false website simply sends your financial details to the gang behind it, who then use your data to either transfer all your money into their account, set up loans in your name, or simply steal your identity for them to use as they wish.

Always check that the web address begins with 'https' and not just 'http' if you are about to enter your bank details, and also look out for a small yellow padlock at the bottom right corner of your screen that tells you that the website is secure, and your details safe. It is also a very good idea to print out all receipts and records of payment, so that you can check these against your statement when it arrives to make absolutely sure your details are secure and being used only with your knowledge.