Debt Reduction Advice | Debt Reduction Advice

For consumers who are concerned about identity theft, one wise strategy is to avoid suspicious websites that could harbor malware that gives criminals the opportunity to access one’s sensitive financial data, such as banking passwords.

With that in mind, the Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it had reached a settlement with ControlScan, a company that billed itself as a service that monitored websites for privacy and security.

The FTC reported that the company had apparently not checked the websites as often as it claimed, and noted that it had reached a separate settlement with the company’s CEO for $102,000.

While it can be helpful to use such tools to gauge a website’s security, especially when it comes to online purchases, consumers also need to exercise a degree of common sense when it comes to protecting their computers.

With that in mind, it’s generally advisable to stick to well-established online retailers to avoid malware and scams in general. Another major red flag is any website that is advertised by a poster on a larger website’s message or comments section, or websites that claim to offer merchandise for unusually low rates.