Protect Yourself from Online Shopping Fraud with a Reverse Phone Lookup

Though Black Friday is generally considered the biggest shopping day of the year, according to Coremetrics, 2009's Cyber Monday sales rose 14% compared to 2008 and consumers bought 30% more items per order than last year. With deals found on just about everything from electronics such as the Kindle and Zhu Zhu hamsters to jewelry and clothing, according to numerous reports, there was an average of 4.3 million consumers per minute visiting top shopping sites. Enabling people to shop from home and easily look for deals, the benefits of Cyber Monday are easy to recognize. Yet for all the ease that online shopping provides, there is always the possibility of fraud. According to Consumer Reports, there has been over $8 billion in cyber theft over the past two years. From e-mail fraud to fake auctions, cyber criminals have become much better at appearing legitimate.

If you decide to do most of your shopping online you may want to consider looking further into any purchase with a reverse cell phone lookup or examining a cell phone directory to ensure that you are purchasing from a legitimate vendor. Given the popularity of sites such as eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon, where small time vendors can easily sell their merchandise from anywhere, the possibility of fraud is greater than ever.

There are numerous ways to protect yourself from fraud from only using certain vendors or sites, to using unique passwords or emails. By adding a cell phone directory or reverse phone lookup to any purchase, you can further protect yourself.