13 Safe Shopping Tips To Protect Consumers & Taxpayers

Americans love to shop - especially over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), more than 154 million consumers were expected to shop this weekend, up from 151 million shoppers in 2015 . More than 4 in 10 of those shoppers went online. Even more Americans are expected to log on today, Cyber Monday, as 122 million Americans go online shopping. 

 As retailers gear up to be busy, so, too, will scammers and thieves. A 2016 Identity Fraud Study released by Javelin Strategy & Research found that the number of identity fraud victims increased to 13.1 million consumers in 2016, up 3% from 12.7 million consumers in 2015. There is some good news, though: the amount stolen has decreased to $15 billion, a 6% decline from $16 billion stolen in 2015. Still, that's billions of dollars too many.

Even when thieves don't target your bank accounts, they can use your identity to perpetrate other frauds - like identity theft-related tax fraud. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cites "remarkable progress" when it comes to efforts to protect taxpayers. The results of those efforts, reported IRS Commissioner Koskinen earlier this month, include fewer bad returns, fewer bad refunds, and fewer taxpayers becoming victims. Identity theft affidavits, which are affidavits filed with the IRS by taxpayers claiming they were victims of identity theft, dropped to 237,750 during the first nine months of 2016, a nearly 50% declined, as compared to the same period in 2015 when 512,278 affidavits were filed. Koskinen cites tighter security measures as one reason for the decline but also singled out taxpayer education initiatives: the more you know about how to protect yourself, the better chance you have not to be a victim.

With that in mind, here are 13 tips help you protect yourself from identity theft not only on Cyber Monday but throughout the year:

1. Use secure connections. The NRF reports that more than 28 million people, or about a quarter of Cyber Monday shoppers, will shop from a mobile device this year. If you're one of those surfing the web looking for deals, especially on mobile, be smart. Don’t connect to an unknown or insecure wi-fi connection. If you have an alternative connection available like using cellular data, consider using that instead. If you must connect using public wi-fi, use a VPN (virtual private network). And save the really sensitive data – like online banking – for later.

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