 TITLE: How to Stay Safe While Shopping on Your Cellphone CONTENT: The Risks of Shopping on Your Phone\n-----------------------------------\nShopping by phone carries many of the same risks as shopping online using your home computer. The main concern in both cases is that the payment and personally identifiable information you share could lead to identity theft and fraud. Here are just a few of the ways mobile shopping can lead to trouble:\n*   Using public Wi-Fi exposes your data to hackers.\n*   Viruses, malware and ransomware infect your phone when you click a link in an ad, email or text message, or inadvertently download a malicious app.\n*   Phishing emails or texts lure you into sharing personal identifying information with fraudsters.\n*   Your phone itself is stolen and its information accessed.\n*   A site you shopped with experiences a data breach.\nIdentity theft can lead to a variety of problems including account takeover fraud, where criminals use your login information to access your accounts. Once in, they may make changes to lock you out of your account, make unauthorized purchases or gain access to your other accounts and personal information. If your payment information is compromised, a fraudster might rack up thousands in credit card bills before you even notice. END