Every year an increasing number of people do their shopping online to avoid long lines at the mall. However, for consumers who are not savvy about online safety, this convenience can come at a huge price.

To avoid having your shopping experience ruined by an online crook, take a few important steps to protect yourself.

• Protect your identity when you are online. Use monitoring services such as CardCops' ID Secure. If you believe that your identity has been compromised, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and/or the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• Learn the safest way to pay for purchases online. MSN Money's article Protect Yourself: The Safest Ways to Pay Online provides useful information on this topic.
• Review consumer safety tips for online shopping. Check out Microsoft's article How to Shop Online More Safely and the BBB's Shopping Online for the Holidays: Twelve Tips to Protect Yourself from Cyber Grinches, Scams and Schemes alert.
• Educate yourself about online scams and fraud and laws relating to these types of crimes. WiredSafety and About.com are valuable resources for this type of information.
• Review customer ratings for online stores at comparison sites. Web sites such as Epinions.com and BizRate provide customer evaluations for many large online retailers.

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