Intersections Inc. Offers Tips for Safe Holiday Shopping on Black Friday & Cyber Monday

CHANTILLY, Va., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As the biggest holiday shopping days of the year quickly approach, consumers everywhere will be lining up at stores on "Black Friday" for pre-dawn sales that will hopefully net great bargains and savings on holiday gifts. For those that don't want to fight the massive crowds at the malls and local shopping centers, they'll surf the Web on "Cyber Monday" -- the Monday right after Thanksgiving -- to catch even better sales, conveniently ordering their gifts online to have them shipped all over the world.

Finding the right deal on the perfect gift is going to be a priority this holiday shopping season as consumers everywhere are penny pinching during tougher economic times. The National Retail Federation expects average holiday spending this year will be around $682.74, down 3 percent from $705.01 last year, so getting the best value for your money is key, whether the gift is found on the Internet or at a retail store. With major online price breaks offered on Cyber Monday, online shopping sales are expected to increase 18 percent over last year, according to Information Resources, Inc.

To kick off the 2009 holiday shopping season, Intersections Inc. (Nasdaq: INTX), a leading global provider of consumer and corporate identity risk management services, and provider of IDENTITY GUARD® Total Protection, the award winning identity theft protection service, advises holiday shoppers to take extra caution to avoid damaging their credit or becoming a victim of identity theft. Identity theft peaks this time of year -- wallets are stolen, credit cards are accidentally left behind and scammers everywhere are looking to prey on their next victims -- but there are simple steps consumers can take to avoid making careless decisions that can have a long-term effect on their financial well-being.

Intersections recommends the following safety tips for holiday shoppers:

    1. Protect your computer from online threats including money-stealing
       Trojans.  Fraudsters are eagerly waiting to take advantage of the
       millions of credit card transactions that will be made online this
       holiday season.  They are lurking to find any weak links in your network
       to gain access to your personal and credit information.  More recently,
       they are using sophisticated Trojans to grab your bank account and credit
       card login information, disable your security software, and sneak into
       your bank account by pretending to be you. Trojans are even smart enough
       to quietly drain your bank account over the holiday period based on the
       assumption that you'll be too busy to check exactly how much you're
       spending until the New Year.  The best way to avoid Trojans is to (a) not
       open attachments or click on email links; (b) be careful where you surf
       and stick to online "neighborhoods" where you really feel safe; and (c)
       regularly patch your computer and update your anti-virus, anti-spyware
       and firewall software.
    2. Take a tip from online merchants and "trust but verify." Whether it's
       online shopping searches, incredible gift offers, or holiday wishes from
       your Twitter "Tweeps" or Facebook friends, the best way to avoid
       gift-wrapping yourself for scammers this year is to turn your cynicism on
       to the highest level.  If you think before you click, you might just play
       Grinch to an identity thief.
    3. Be careful buying gift cards.  Make sure that you purchase gift cards
       that are legitimate and secure, and avoid buying gift cards secondhand
       from an unverified source.  UK-based security firm Corsaire recently
       found that the vulnerable magnetic-stripe technology used for gift cards
       and customer loyalty cards make these attractive targets for hackers. 
       Additionally, the research revealed that gift cards can easily be
       "sniffed" off the shelf in the checkout line with a scanner and cloned,
       card numbers can be stolen, and retailers' gift card Web sites can be
       hacked.
    4. Avoid Tweet Traps!  Scammers fully understand the power and reach of
       social networks, and gathering places like Facebook and Twitter are a
       feeding ground for all kinds of thieves this holiday season.  According
       to the eHoliday Study by Shop.org (a division of the National Retail
       Federation), 47.1 percent of retailers said they will be increasing their
       use of social media during the holidays.  The biggest threat to be wary
       of this year is the "Tweet Trap" -- a message that appears to be from a
       trusted friend or follower passing on some great news, a real bargain, or
       a worthy cause, but instead hides spam, phishing fraud, or a malicious
       download.  Consumers should be cautious about Tweets or Facebook messages
       about great holiday deals, must-have gifts, or hard luck stories, even if
       they are coming from "friends."  If they sound interesting, do your own
       research to see if they're genuine. But don't click or download.
    5. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  This scam has
       focused on promising shoppers the hard-to-find gift at an irresistible
       price and in most cases, the gift doesn't exist, doesn't arrive, the
       seller demands far more for it, or simply steals the shopper's credit
       card information.  But this year, hackers are upping the stakes by
       hacking into the search ranking systems of the major search engines like
       Yahoo! and Google so that their fraudulent or malware-infected web sites
       appear at the top of shopper searches.  And most shoppers still believe
       that if a Web site is at the top of a search engine's list, it has to be
       legitimate.
    6. Do NOT give out your financial information over the phone or email.  If
       your bank or credit card company sends you an email or even calls you
       warning you of insufficient funds or other problems with your account,
       contact them directly using the customer service numbers posted on their
       web sites. Don't respond to their emails or to any number they provide in
       an email or phone message.
    7. Keep travel plans private.  Don't give a gift to digital burglars by
       Tweeting or posting updates to Facebook about your holiday plans like
       when you're going to be away from home or all the cool stuff you bought.
       Otherwise your new purchases may end up under someone else's tree.
    8. Do a post-holiday credit health check-up.   After the holidays are over,
       be sure to check your credit reports, credit card statements and bank
       statements to verify all transactions.  Each transaction you made, either
       in retail stores or online, could have been compromised, adversely
       affecting your credit and your credit score.  Notify your bank or credit
       card company immediately if you see anything suspicious.

"With a soft economy and higher unemployment rates, consumers are under increased pressure to cut holiday spending, and this may lead to an increased willingness to take on greater risks," said Steven Schwartz, Intersections' Executive Vice President of Consumer Solutions. "While retailers will respond with timely offers and special discounts, it's important for customers to protect themselves from scammers and cyber scrooges who may try to prey on their emotions with targeted offline and online schemes."

One way to protect yourself is to be vigilant about where you shop (online or at the mall), what information you provide and to whom, and to protect your computer from spyware, malicious code and Trojans. Intersections' IDENTITY GUARD® Total Protection is the most comprehensive offering on the market today covering personal information, credit reports, public records, computer, Internet and mobile transactions. The service also provides sophisticated software that protects consumers against keylogging attacks, secures their passwords and user IDs as they navigate online, identifies legitimate websites, and protects their computers from advanced malware software. IDENTITY GUARD® Total Protection also provides identity theft recovery services and financial reimbursement insurance in the event identity theft occurs. Find out more at www.identityguard.com.

About Intersections

Intersections Inc. (Nasdaq: INTX) is a leading global provider of consumer and corporate identity risk management services. Its premier identity theft, privacy, and consumer solutions are designed to provide high-value opportunities to its marketing partners, including leading financial institutions, Fortune 100 corporations, and other businesses. Intersections also markets full identity theft protection solutions under its brand, IDENTITY GUARD® (www.identityguard.com). Intersections' consumer identity theft protection services have protected more than 25 million consumers.

To address the growing threat of corporate fraud, Intersections and its subsidiaries provide cutting-edge identity management solutions including security breach remediation; pre-employment background screening; and corporate brand protection.

For advice, opinions, and the latest news on identity theft for consumers, visit http://www.IDguardian.com. Twitter handle: IDGuardian. For educational tools and resources on breach readiness for businesses, visit http://www.BreachCenter.com. Twitter handle: BreachCenter

SOURCE Intersections Inc.