TAKE CARE ONLINE FORMS

TAKE CARE WHEN FILLING OUT ONLINE FORMS

Online Shopping

Shopping online is different than shopping at a regular store and some businesses take advantage of those differences in the name of profits. The online shopper needs to know how to navigate these waters safely and intelligently.

The most important piece of information you need to know is that online forms are how your information is obtained by web sites, and what they do with that information should be disclosed in their privacy statement.

An online form (web form) is one of those web pages that contains a series of rectangular boxes with labels next to them which say 'First Name', 'Last Name' credit card info etc. And we are expected to type our information into those rectangular boxes (called fields) and then click the 'Submit' button.

Navigating The E-Commerce Waters

Web forms come in many varieties, from the simple 'first name' and 'e-mail address', to filling out an application for a loan or insurance, or just setting up an account with some company or utility in order to pay your bills. But when it comes to transactions that involve your credit card, you need to know a few things to protect yourself.

* First, the URL in the address bar. When we first arrive at some web site the URL or Uniform Resource Locator, will be something like http. But when we click to a page with a web form on it for entering our credit card information that URL should now be changed to https, notice the s after the http?
* Second, look for the icon of a lock (little picture of a padlock) somewhere on the browser window, usually at the bottom. Placing the mouse over this icon and clicking or double clicking will bring up information about the pages security. This indicates that a page is secure, meaning that the information that you type into the boxes will be encrypted before being sent over the internet rather than clearly readable plain text.

Less Obvious Threats

There are less obvious threats out there. Deception and or misdirection carried out innocently or otherwise by overzealous marketing departments working for companies whose business model isn't built on the highest standards of integrity and values. For example; I once saw an offer for a free sample of a supplement and thought I'd try it out to see if it performed as advertised. So I went through the web form and made one very easy mistake, I didn't read every word on the form, especially the words next to check boxes.

Awareness is the key. One of those check boxes said something about canceling and I wondered at the time 'why would I cancel a free sample?' and put my credit card in to pay for shipping. What I didn't read was the small print that said that by signing up for this free sample, I would be signing up for a monthly shipment of the product until I canceled it. Of course, I didn't realize this until I checked my credit card statement online and discovered this charge and started receiving the product.

So I called the company and said that I didn't want this and didn't sign up for this and I was sending it back. Fine, but the person I talked to failed to mention that I was signed up for monthly shipments, I thought it had just been a mistake until it happened again and I went through the whole thing again and canceled any relationship with them and told my credit card company to never, until the end of time, accept another charge from them ... ever!

Ignorance on my part, a little bit of bait and switch on their part. They could have been clearer, I could have been more careful.

Good luck out there!



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