Q: How can I avoid Internet fraud while purchasing holiday gifts?

A:'Tis the season for maxing out credit cards in stores and online sites. Some will do anything for a buck around the holidays, including stealing credit information. Frank DeWolf, director of the RFID Center of Excellence at Penn State Erie, has some tips to avoid online credit card fraud this holiday season.

"The first thing if you're ordering anything on the internet -- always make sure it is secure with the inscription 'https' and has a little lock in the bottom right-hand corner, and [make] sure that the Web site you are ordering from has a digital certificate," he said.

A digital certificate is issued by certification authorities that confirm a company is legitimate, DeWolf said.

Also, "People should be using credit cards and not debit cards," DeWolf said.

A credit card company can only hold a person responsible for $50 of the fraud, he said. But a debit card withdraws directly out of a checking account, and the money is lost, DeWolf said.

Dewolf said to be aware of fake e-mails imitating banks and Pay-pal.

"That is another key thing if you ever get an e-mail message asking you to go to a Web site to verify a credit card amount or number, no reputable company will ask you to do that," DeWolf said.

-Compiled by Liz Coviello