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Before you start shopping online the most important thing to do is to make sure the general level of security on your computer is up to date to protect you from viruses, spyware and hackers. There are programs called spyware which record your credit card details or bank account login details when you type them into the computer, even if the website you are using is secure, so it’s important to check for spyware on a regular basis and get rid of it if you find any.

A firewall and anti-virus software will help keep your computer more secure from fraudsters and save you money in getting it fixed if a virus causes a problem, however you do need to keep them up to date. Our Info Centre has some useful website addresses where you can go to get more information on these tools.

Once your computer is secure, if you use your common sense when deciding where to shop you should be pretty safe. If you want to make sure your internet transactions are more secure, you can sign up to Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode. Once you’ve signed up, fraudsters can’t use your card details on participating sites as they will not know your password.