Online shopping has progressed leaps and bounds following significant development in tech and logistics, allowing customers to beat the rush, crowds, and lines at stores however as the number of online purchases increases, so does the possibility of phishing scams, because all the excitement surrounding the holiday season makes consumers forget about security.
Phishing remains the most popular method used by cybercriminals to lure consumers into handing over their personal data and credit card credentials. Popular brands are most often used as bait offering consumers holiday promotions so that their financial data and account details could be stolen.
Increased online activities, attract the attention of cybercriminals lurking on the internet. They quickly take advantage of people’s excitement and go to great lengths such as creating fake websites to bait consumers into sharing valuable data. Because cybercriminals make it hard to distinguish between what is real and a hoax, it’s best to stay vigilant and always be careful when sharing personal or financial information online
Online shopping doesn’t have to be dangerous. To stay safe simply
- Shop only at official online marketplaces and pay attention to the web URLs.
- Refrain from visiting shopping websites from links in e-mails, social media messages, and chat rooms, or by clicking/tapping advertising banners on suspicious sites.
- Avoid using public Wi-Fi for shopping because most of them are insecure and can be a security risk.
- Get a separate card for online purchases and keep minimal funds on it.
- Don’t create passwords for websites that are easy to guess.
- Never use the same password for multiple websites, because if one is stolen, all your accounts will be made vulnerable.
