what are safe online shopping tips?
Gone are the days when you hire a taxi or drive your own car through busy traffic to go to the mall and shop to your heart’s content. It is the era of shopping online without the hassles of carrying fully loaded shopping bags from mall to home. You can practically buy anything online these days ranging from a phone battery to your kids diaper, seems funny but true. However, like every good thing that has a twist, online shopping to has some disadvantages. But you can avoid all of those and enjoy shopping if you follow some simple things. Here are some tips for your for safe online shopping.
- Use updated antivirus and malware protection software. You also need to have a Firewall installed in your PC.
- Use updated and safe browsers when you shop online. Some of the good ones are Chrome, Mozilla Firefox etc. These have safeguards that spyware, malware and virus from attacking your computer and also hack your online accounts.
- Updated antivirus and anti-malware is important in preventing fraud. These will verify the websites and make sure they are original.
- Do not open attachments in your email that come from unknown sources. They are phishing attacks that scam shoppers saying they have incredible deals. If you have any doubts about the email or offer then visit the original website of the retailer and find out for yourself.
- Never use public computers or public Wi-Fi signals when you shop as they are compromised with malware. Hackers also have access to these networks which they do to get your personal info.
- Shop on encrypted sites only that is the web address starts with “https”. This implies that the site is secure for transactions.
- Always save or print the payment confirmations. Sometimes the stores are overloaded with orders that the payment process is not confirmed. So save or print the confirmation.
- Always use your credit card only and not your debit card as debit cards are directly linked to your bank account. In case hackers get access to your bank account through debit cards then they will swipe your bank account entirely. Credit cards are more safe as they use money borrowed from the card provider, so if your card is stolen you have more protection.
- Update your passwords frequently. Generate strong passwords which should be a combo of upper and lower case letters, symbols, number etc. Never use common passwords which might be obvious.
Follow these tips and have a safe shopping experience.
