Show Online holiday shoppers should take caution Chris Gaither Los Angeles Times The hunt is on As more shoppers scour the Internet for holiday deals they're also being stalked by Cyber Monday Monday-is is Nov 27 the kickoff to the busi busiest st online shopping period of the year E-commerce E is expect expected d to hit a record this year as Web-savvy Web shoppers and alike hand over more of their holiday budgets to online retailers retailers' Online shoppers spent 79 billion through the first nine months of the year up 23 percent from the comparable period last year according to the Commerce Departments Department's Census Bureau Lazard Capital Markets an investment bank predicted in a recent report that the trend to would continue through the holiday season But where there are shoppers fr will follow Computer security experts said they expected a seasonal in inthe the usual Internet scams such as fake items auctioned online unsolicited commercial email email email e- e mail and so-called so attacks in which mailings e-mailings try to trick recipients into disclosing personal and financial information One in 10 adults say they have fallen victim to online fraud according to Harris Interactive which conducted the survey on behalf of Corp in October Those who have been shopping online have gained experience and are more comfortable which is why were we're continuing to o see it grow said Steve Salter a vice president nt at the online arm ann of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington Va But there are always new people coming on for whom these scams are new as well Three-quarters Three of the 80 million Internet-connected Internet households in the United States have shopped online according to Forrester Research Inc But concerns about fraud may be stunting the industry's growth 21 percent of consumers surveyed in in November by research firm finn on behalf of Bu Safe Inc an e commerce security company listed too much risk of fraud I dont don't trust online merchants as the primary reason they dont don't shop online I prefer to see merchandise in person ranked first with 51 percent |