Protect yourself when shopping online this holiday season

If you’re planning to do some online shopping for your kids this Christmas, there are some things you can do to protect yourself from scams.

For most people Christmas is the season of goodwill, but for the spammers and scammers it’s open season. Yup, unless you exercise some caution, shopping for your kids online could turn into a nightmare. If that heavily discounted electronic gadget that was advertized in unsolicited email seems like a steal, it’s probably because the sender of the email wants to steal from you! The old adage, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is” certainly holds true when it comes to online transactions. Some common scams that you should watch out for include auction scams, websites selling extremely cheap goods (which – surprise, surprise – never arrive), fake invoices for delivery charges (if you don’t remember getting anything from UPS, it’s probably because you didn’t!), solicitations for donations to fake charities (it’s not always better to give than to receive!) and a host of other cons and dishonest schemes.

So, how can you protect yourself? The best advice is to use your common sense and tread carefully. Buy only from reputable and well-known websites, don’t be afraid to ask questions, don’t enter into a transaction if anything sets your alarm bells ringing and never, ever buy from a spam email. Additionally, you should use a phishing filter as these can help you avoid bogus websites. So, either turn on the filter that’s bundled with your web browser or install a third-party filter such as WOT.

For more advice, check out this article by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Filed Under: My Online Life > Privacy-Security
Tags: Christmas shopping, fraud, online shopping, scams, shopping tips