Tips to Stay Safe while Online Shopping by
Holiday shopping is already on the minds of many people. Some will be hitting the stores to cross things off their shopping lists. Others prefer to find the seasonal bargains from the comfort of their homes.
Americans on average are expected to spend about 908 dollars this season, an 8 percent increase from last year. The national retail federation shows 57 percent of consumers plan to buy gifts online this holiday season. The scary thing though — Americans lost over 800 million dollars to cyber theft in 2014 alone.
“When you’re doing online shopping, a couple things you need to watch out for, make sure you’re on a secure site, that you know the site that you’re on. You need to check that you’re on a site that has ‘HTTPS” in the address bar, and also there should be a little lock in that address bar too,” Cheryl Parson, President at the Better Business Bureau of West Central Ohio, said.
To protect yourself from online fraud, Parson says there are some additional things you can do: make sure to Use a credit card, track your online transactions for any red flags, and double check the web address to make sure it’s not trying to imitate a popular site like Amazon.
“There’s another out there that is not really Amazon, but it looks like it. People are using sites that you think you are on the right site, the name’s similar and everything, but it’s not the correct site,” Parson said.
If you realize you’ve been a victim of online fraud, contact your credit card company right away, and you can also report it to the Better Business Bureau for additional help.
Tips to Stay Safe while Online Shopping by