Using the Internet Safely For Seniors

➟ Use a payment service or credit card for payment. The

U.S. Federal Trade Commission limits your liability

for credit card purchases to no more than $50 of

unauthorized charges if your financial information is

stolen. Don’t use debit or ATM cards as in most cases

there is no limit to your liability if these get abused

and you could find your account emptied. Don’t use

checks as they have too much of your personal infor-

mation on them including your bank, your bank

account number and your banks routing number for

transferring money out of your account. Any seller

that asks for a cashier’s check, wire transfer, or money

order is almost always a scam, and once the money is

sent, you have no way to get it back.

➟ Use payment services (such as PayPal shown in Figure

12-2) that allow you to register with them and pay

companies through them without ever exposing your

credit card number or personal information to the

seller.

Figure 12-2

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Chapter 12: Shop ’Til You Drop... But Safely