As the festive season draws near, and online shopping activity increases to try to get the perfect gift for friends and family, this can also be a time when scams increase too.
We recently created a fraud prevention checklist for you to use to avoid fraudulent activity, and in this post, we’ll share tips on how to avoid scams when online shopping this festive season.
Make sure you shop on secure websites
During the festive season, it’s easy for scammers to quickly create fake or suspicious online sites that have enticing deals or offers for shoppers – be careful with these! Some tips to help you ensure you’re shopping securely online are:
- Google the retailer and check for customer reviews on the online store and their products.
- Make sure there is a closed lock icon next to the URL and that “https” appears in the browser address bar.
- Look for the online store on a web browser, like Google, rather than clicking through suspicious links in an email or SMS.
- Look for reviews or comments on the online store’s social media ads and posts to see what other customers have said about the store.
Watch out for phishing activity
Phishing is a fraudulent activity where the scammer sends you a message that looks like it comes from a reputable company, but is designed to trick you into providing personal or sensitive information like your ID number, password or card details.
Scammers will usually contact you via email, phone or SMS, and during the festive season, these messages can often look like a fake parcel delivery notification (be alert if you have not shopped online and you receive this message), or offers that want you to purchase items immediately.
Our tips to avoid phishing activity when online shopping are:
- Never provide any personal or sensitive information from sites that you do not recognise.
- Watch out for any suspicious pop-ups that appear on websites. Always click the small ‘x’ in the top corner of a pop-up to avoid being sent to an unsecure site.
- Browse and shop on secure sites only.
- Regularly check your online accounts. Update any old passwords to something much stronger, and check your monthly bank statements for any fraudulent transactions.
Use protected payment methods
Once you’ve decided on the secure online stores you’ll be shopping at, and are aware of phishing tactics, make sure that you choose protected payment methods to avoid any suspicious transactions or identity theft later on.
Using a virtual card, like FASTACard, provides an extra layer of security as the virtual card number you receive doesn’t have access to your real bank account details, so online retailers and scammers don’t get any information from you. With FASTACard, certain merchants will also require an OTP to complete the transaction. This OTP gets sent directly to your mobile number via SMS, so you can approve the online purchases you are aware of and reject the ones that look suspicious.
Bookmark this post so you can always come back to it during the festive season, and use our Fraud Prevention Checklist to help you stay on top of fraudulent activity too.
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