While many people worry about typing and sending credit card numbers over the Internet, the reality is that few credit card numbers are stolen off the Net. Not only would a potential thief need to tap into your Internet account at the exact moment you’re sending your credit card number to a website, but he or she would have to break the encryption scheme that many websites use to protect your credit card numbers online.

If someone’s going to steal your credit card number, they’re more likely to get it by breaking into the computers of a large organization, such as Amazon.com or CD Universe, and stealing the credit card numbers stored there. Such companies may also have the odd untrustworthy employee who has access to the company’s list of customer credit card numbers, and who can steal a number simply by copying it off the computer screen.

Credit card fraud is actually much more troublesome for merchants, because merchants are responsible for verifying credit card orders. If a thief steals someone’s credit card and orders thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, the merchant pays for the loss, not the owner of the stolen credit card.