identity theft is a serious fear of mine. I got a credit card from my bank,that's not my bank card. I got it to buy stuff online,but I'm seriously scared to do it. I was thinking about making a pay pal account,but I'm not sure how secure the thing is and how it works. I know that's the one constant thing I see online,when you check out any online site. So,how secure is pay pal? how does it work? what are the chances of me getting hacked,if I make a pay pal account? I'm 35 and never bought anything online at all,but I feel it's going to become a neccessary thing in this day and age. I'm also tired of going to the big retail stores and them not having what I want,when I want it. I'm really conflicted on this. should I just suck it up and do it? thoughts?

There is not really anything to fear. I've been using paypal for years now and the account is as strong as your password basically. It's not as "safe" as regular online banking because the pin doesn't change but it's safe enough.

Honestly I don't get the fear. There are so many safe guards in place nowadays that it's next to impossible to lose money involuntarily. I don't know an online payment system where it's not possible to just have stolen amount be returned. So in this case you even have 2 safe guards. You have the ability to just get your money back from either Paypal or your bank. There is also a partner program with Google where it sets itself as another safeguard on certified shops. You really have to fuck up really bad and do nothing about it to actually lose money.

Paypal is connected to your bank account and will automatically book the amount you paid online from it. The good thing is that it works instantly. It pays the amount and then later books it as soon as possible.That way you have the benefit of a credit card without using a credit card. However some shops may add a "tax" if you choose paypal as payment option.

thanks for the feedback.

very safe.
when buying from a website you are unsure of always look for the lock icon in the bottom right of the browser, this tells you the site is fully secure.

thanks for the tip nettles. that's good to know.

Just don't click on email links telling you you need to secure your account.

identity theft is serious but using a credit card online isn't how your identity gets stolen.


credit cards online are, imo, safter than pay pal. the money in your pay pal is your money. if someone hacks the account and takes the money you lose that money. credit cards on the other hand are the banks money. if someone uses your credit card fraudulently the bank loses the money not you.

then just don't buy things from shady online stores. amazon is perfectly safe and has everything is a pretty good price. ..but if you see a site where the deal seems almost too good to be true you are probably working with someone that at bare minimum isn't doing a good job securing their web traffic and at worst is phishing.

That's just not true. There is no reason to have money stored on paypal's account. It's not a prepaid model. I had paypal for years and never had a single penny on there because they pay for me and then instantly book from my bank account. It's basically the same as a credit card.

Also, even if you had money with PayPal there are ways to get the money back even if your account was hacked, the same as credit cards when they are stolen.

You should also probably tell me your password, just in case you forget it. Then you can ask me for it, if such instance happens. 😇

also known as your money.  your money is gone until you make all the calls to try and get your money back.  the transaction took that money and while your trying to get the charge reversed you are responsible for things like defaulting on your mortage because of a lack of funds or overdraft fees if you make a purchase before you notice you no longer have money in the account.  it's more like a debit card then a credit card.  with credit it's the banks money lost and their problem to get it back.