It is an exciting time of year as we prepare for the festive season and begin our holiday shopping. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales just around the corner, it's difficult to resist the great deals. This is not only an opportunity for online shoppers, but many cybercriminals are determined to cash in on online scams!
Adobe predicts that Cyber Monday 2022 will see a record-breaking $11.2 billion in spending. In the hustle of trying to get to those deals before they sell out, we can get distracted, and cyber criminals know it's easier to exploit people when they are distracted.
Be careful when clicking on a deal before checking to see if the “deal” is legitimate, as you can end up losing your hard-earned funds - becoming holiday spoils for a cyber criminal!
Here are some of the latest online security tips to help you identify the risks and shop safely. This will help you avoid being caught by a cyber Grinch, and having your holiday excitement spoiled!
Stick with big-name retailers you know and trust.
Think of well-known department stores, discount retailers, and businesses.
Avoid shady third-party sellers.
One way to avoid dealing with unknown third-party sellers is by looking at the "sold by and shipped from" note in the product description.
Go directly to retailer sites.
Once you've decided where to shop, bookmark those retailers' sites instead of clicking on offers in ads, emails, or text messages.
Want to shop small? Look for secure sites.
If you want to support small businesses and independent shops, verify that the business is legitimate and that the site is secure with these two steps:
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Look for a lock icon in the top left corner of your browser bar when you're on the site.
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A secure site's URL should start with HTTPS and not HTTP.
Secure sites help shield you from hackers.
Secure sites use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates and TLS (Transport Layer Security) technology. An SSL certificate is issued by a reputable organization that independently verifies the identity of the website.
Don't holiday shop in public.
It may sound pleasant to do your holiday shopping at a local coffee shop, but shopping online from your laptop, tablet, or phone while connected to public Wi-Fi can open the doors to hackers. If possible, use a VPN solution to ensure your privacy and anonymity are protected when you use public Wi-Fi.
Know that holidays offer a bounty for scammers.
Cyber Monday scams and other holiday scams are common because hackers know that a lot of busy and distracted people will be shopping online during this time. Don't fall victim to scams that sound too good to be true by staying cybersavvy.
Use credit, not debit.
If you shop online, always use your credit card rather than your debit card, which gives you direct access to your bank account. Credit card fraud never transfers real money from your account. If you use a debit card, it can take weeks to get your money back while the bank investigates.
Don't save your card information.
Retailers often ask if you want to store your card information on their site for faster checkout in the future. It's a good idea to decline this option to reduce the chances of having your card information compromised in a retailer data breach.
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