One thing to look for when shopping or entering sensitive information online is that you are on a secure website. Websites with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates transfer data more securely than those without. Any reputable organization that deals with money transfer or sensitive information should have an SSL version of there website.
You can identify these secure websites by a URL starting with https:// rather than http:// in the address bar of your browser. A little padlock icon is usually also displayed near the website address to indicate that the connection is secure. You can click on this padlock to see the details of the SSL certificate.
SSL allows you to better verify the identity of the website owner as well as ensuring that the information you submit to these websites are encrypted. It is a good hit to check the address of a website and look for the padlock before submitting any sensitive information.