How to Stay Safe When Cyber-Shopping for the Holidays
Payment Methods
Use a credit card or debit card that includes excellent protection against false charges to your account. Try to use payment systems that have good built-in protection, like Paypal, Shop Pay, Google Pay, or Amazon Checkout. It is much more difficult for a criminal to steal your card info if you use these types of payments during checkout. If you are shopping on an unfamiliar site and the checkout has a plain old form to fill out your credit card info (if it also does not provide alternative ways to pay like PayPal, Google Pay, etc.), be wary.
Email Scams and Social Media Ads
Watch out for scams via email. You will most likely receive multiple emails regarding big sales or charges and shipments that you know nothing about. You will always get what you pay for, so stay away from email marketing ads if you can, as a huge majority of them are scams. If you frequent specific sites and they market to you, then great, they are a shopping outlet you have experience with, so the ads and emails are probably safe. Just don’t fall for the same types of clickbait the social media platform ads try to run as well.
System Updates and Maintenance
Before doing any holiday shopping online, make sure you have updated your Windows or MAC operating system with the latest versions and updates. This way, if there are any security holes, you will have the latest patches to protect yourself. Also, ensure your Virus/Malware protection is up to date and that you have been getting clean scans. These scans ensure your peace of mind and provide the knowledge that no malware or viruses are stealing your information while you shop.
Blog written by Shane Hepler, Chief Information Officer
