United States
Credit cards usually provide stronger dispute handling than debit cards. Report identity theft and build a recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov.
Staying safe out there · 3 minute read
A great mall and a great con.
The internet is a great mall and a great con. A few habits keep you on the safe side. Most online shopping is fine. The scams just cluster around a few predictable moves, and once you can spot them, you dodge almost everything.
Green flags and red flags
- Buy from sellers with a reputation - established stores, or marketplaces with real reviews and a return policy. A brand-new site with unbelievable prices and no contact info is the classic trap.
- If it's too good to be true, it is - a $900 console for $200 from a random site is bait, not a deal.
- Check the address bar - it should be https and the domain spelled correctly. Scammers register look-alikes (amaz0n, paypa1) and copy the whole site to the pixel.
Pay in a way that protects you
Use a credit card (or a trusted service like PayPal), not a debit card - credit lets you dispute fraud and claw the money back without it ever leaving your real bank balance. And a hard rule: never pay a "seller" with gift cards, wire transfers, or crypto. Those are untraceable and unrecoverable - they're exactly what scammers ask for because you can't get the money back.
Keep the receipt. Save the confirmation email and order number until the thing arrives and you're happy with it. If it never shows or shows up wrong, that's what you need to get your money back.
Real help, wherever you are
The official source where you live
Services and numbers change over time. If one of these is wrong or missing for your country, telling us is worth more than anything else on this page.
Canada
Credit-card disputes and consumer rights are split between federal and provincial rules. Report fraud to your financial institution and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
United Kingdom
Card purchases may have chargeback or statutory protection depending on how and how much you paid. Report fraud to your bank and the UK's official fraud-reporting route.
Australia
Use card or platform protections and report scams to your bank and Scamwatch. Do not send money by gift card, crypto, or transfer to an unverified seller.
New Zealand
Use protected payment options, keep evidence, and report online scams through Netsafe, your bank, and Police where appropriate.
Ireland
Card and consumer protections come from Irish and EU rules. Contact your bank quickly after fraud and report scams to Gardaí where appropriate.
Worldwide
Payment-dispute and identity-theft protections differ by country. Use a protected payment method, keep receipts, and follow your national cyber-safety agency after fraud.
Common questions
The questions people actually ask
What payment method is safest online?
A credit card or a protected payment platform, because the dispute process puts the provider's money at risk instead of draining your account first. Bank transfers, gift cards and crypto have effectively no recovery route, which is precisely why scammers request them.
How do I spot a fake store?
A deal far under everyone else, a domain registered recently, no real contact details, reviews that all landed in the same week, and pressure to pay by a method with no protection.
What should I do if an order never arrives?
Contact the seller once in writing, then open a dispute with your card or payment provider rather than waiting. Disputes have deadlines, and waiting politely is how people miss them.
Are marketplace listings safe?
Safer while the payment stays inside the platform. The most common scam is being talked into completing the deal somewhere else, which is exactly where the protection ends.
How do I avoid phishing emails about orders?
Never use the link in the message. Open the retailer's site or app yourself and check the order there, because a convincing order-problem email is one of the most effective phishing formats there is.
Keep reading
If this one found you
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Money
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The manual nobody handed us
Nobody is born knowing any of this
School skipped it, and everyone else is quietly working it out too. The rest of the guides are free, plain-language, and take about five minutes each.