It is becoming more and more difficult to keep your credit cards safe from online fraud and deception. Some companies have instituted measures that are helping. Here's what you can do to keep online credit card transactions secure.

PayPal. PayPal was started in order to further safe payment activities on the Internet. PayPal allows you to use a simple email address that is connected to an account. Anytime you make a payment with your email address, the money is pulled from this account. Also, those who also participate in PayPal as buyers, can send money to your PayPal account with just your email address.

You can also opt for internet fraud prevention system for credit card safety.

The idea is to 'hide' or secure your account behind an email account which prevents having to expose your account information to potential theft. That is not to say that there are those who have used stealthy methods to obtain a person's money from their PayPal account, but it is one of the safer ways to conduct commerce on the Internet. PayPal is used by many who do business through eBay and is owned by them as well.

Verisign. This company is in the business of verifying secure sites with which to perform business on the Internet. They are seen with their small padlock on or near where your payments would be made on an Internet site.

One credit card for online use only. There is another philosophy about conducting business on the Internet that makes sense and insolates a person from fraud and identity theft. This involves the use of a credit card that is obtained solely for the purpose of buying items on the Internet. The way it should work is that you would get a credit card and use it ONLY for buying items on the Internet.

Furthermore, you would make sure that the account limit would be low enough to cover your purchases but high enough to be able to make the purchases that you need to in order to conduct business in this manner.

Even though you are not responsible to pay if your credit card number is stolen and used, this still helps mitigate the frustration that occurs if something does happen. And, it keeps your other credit cards from becoming exposed on the Internet to hackers who try to obtain numbers by cracking large databases.