As the holidays approach, online retailers are ramping up discounts on hot-ticket items ranging from big-screen TVs to cookware. This e-commerce feeding frenzy provides fertile ground for scammers to worm their way into your digital and financial lives.
Here are some tips to keep your holiday season fun:
- Double check the URL of the website: This may seem obvious, but the internet is crowded with domain names seeking to take advantage of common typos leading users to sketchy sites. Before you try to buy anything online, check and double-check the URL of the website. Amazon.cm, Amzon.com, Amazzon.com, for example, could easily be a scam storefront.
- Do some background research: There are plenty of websites that aren’t attached to big box stores or monolithic corporations that depend on holiday sales to stay in business. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to distinguish between small businesses and scam websites. A little bit of research can help: Do a quick online search of the store you’re planning on ordering from (an easy tip is to look up the name of the site and “scam”). Check to see if they have a working phone number, a physical address, customer reviews, or anything else that helps prove that the website in question is attached to an established business.
- Click links in emails and texts with extreme caution: Anyone who does their holiday shopping online is familiar with the bombardment of shipping notifications, email campaigns, and order confirmations. It’s all too easy for a scammer to send a text or email with information about an online purchase that leads to a scam website, or worse, downloads malware to your device. Double-check the sender’s email address or phone number before clicking on any links and never provide personal or financial information unless you’re 100% positive that you’re dealing with an actual business.
- Don’t overshare on social media: People tend to post everything from travel plans to wishlists on social media during the holidays. Don’t be like those people. Any information you share online can provide scammers the information needed to craft finely-tuned emails and communications scam you. If you insist on posting, set your privacy settings to not allow the general public to see your posts.
- Beware of too-good-to-be-true sales offers: Yes, online retailers will often give large discounts on their products over the holidays, but they’re not running charities. Steer clear of any discount or sale that seems outlandishly inexpensive, especially if it’s not on a well-established site. If you see an ad for a website offering PS5s or iPhones at a massive discount, it’s likely to be a scam designed to capture your payment information.
