Don’t Get Cyber-Scammed This Holiday Season [Infographic]

Paul Lipman November 17, 2020

The beginning of November brings about the start of the holiday shopping season. Certainly, online shopping has surged this year like never before due to the pandemic and the holiday season is sure to keep pace. In August, the FBI noted an increase in online shopping scams as malicious characters took advantage of the pandemic.

This year while you’re looking for the best deal, follow this cyber-savvy advice to avoid giving the gift of your private information to a hacker.

Don’t Get Caught

Be alert for phishing emails: Cyber scammers are already starting to craft creative phishing emails posing as the newest deals and sales for the season. It’s important to identify phishing scams, ignore them and promptly delete them. If you click on a fake link and go on to enter your personal information, you will have just handed your information over to a fraudster and potentially introduced malware into your PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet.

Beware of social media scams: Your email account isn’t the only place you can receive phishing messages. Shoppers are often targeted on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Scammers will often send a message that looks like it comes from the social media service itself, but the links in the message will take you to fake pages. Social media sites will never ask you for your user name and password in order to verify your account through a private message. Be on high alert when you receive messages from unknown senders.

Check the Website

Shop on websites that you trust: Well-known brands have a track record of trustworthiness. Whenever possible, buy from vendors you trust on sites that you trust. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try out a new site or store, but if you have the option to shop somewhere safe and familiar for the same prices, it’s a good idea to take it. It certainly makes life easier and removes uncertainty from the equation.

Check website security: It should be a golden rule that you avoid buying something from a website that doesn’t have ‘https’ at the start of the URL. The ‘s’ stands for secure and signifies encrypted data. You should also look for a green padlock in the browser bar as this also symbolizes the same thing. If either of these things is missing, it’s a major red flag.

Poorly designed websites: If a website isn’t professionally designed, it might mean that the site owner isn’t a professional and could also be a scammer. Even if the vendor is well-intentioned, the site could be compromised if the site design isn’t competent. A well-designed website is usually a good sign when you’re shopping somewhere new. If you get a lot of pop-ups and can’t close them, it is best to stay away.

Your Connection Matters

Be careful shopping online with mobile devices: When using a smartphone or tablet you can receive an abbreviated URL for a website. This can mislead buyers into phishing scams. For example, it is common to shorten URLs for display on sites like Twitter or even some shopping websites. However, since the URL is shortened it is impossible to know where you are being sent when you click the link. You may also be tempted to shop on a public Wi-Fi network, but these unsecured networks have security vulnerabilities. When using a mobile device make sure you are using a password protected network or better yet, connect using your own Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Protect Your Data

Use credit cards: Credit cards aren’t tied to your personal account, so if you are unlucky enough to be defrauded the risk is minimized. Plus, credit card fraud, once it is proven, is often refundable. Debit cards, on the other hand, are not really covered. It’s largely up to your bank’s discretion as to whether they refund you. They are also tied to your bank account, which could allow clever hackers to use your debit card details to further access your account funds.

Use good online protection: This may seem as obvious as locking your front door when you leave home, but you’d be surprised at the relatively large number of people who overlook this most fundamental cybersecurity step. Good internet security will negate many of the threats listed above. It flags up suspicious websites, malware that is hiding in emails, as well as keeping out a whole host of nasty viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware and other types of malware.

It’s vital that consumers are educated on how to navigate the shops of the world wide web safely. Cybercriminals are ramping up their scams, and while it’s easy to get distracted by the multitude of options and deals it’s even easier to forget about the risks of sharing personal information online. If consumers stay alert and observe safe shopping practices, they will be able to enjoy the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales without sacrificing safety.

Check the infographic below for 10 top tips for safe online shopping and banking:

Source: BullGuard

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