Holiday Online Shopping

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Holiday Online Shopping

Social media and email are responsible for a lot of offers arriving that seem too good to be true. A lot of them appear genuine despite email providers filtering out the majority of suspect communications.

As an example, Gmail users are protected from nearly 15 billion unwanted messages a day, blocking more than 99.9% of spam, phishing and malware. However scammers don’t slow down during the holiday season — they accelerate. In the past two weeks alone, Gmail blocked over 231 billion spam and phishing messages, 10% higher than the average volume.

So with the holiday season approaching, and online shopping increasing, here are some tips to help keep you safe:

• Avoid clicking on emails and texts from unknown senders

• Make sure to verify the legitimacy of any website before providing personal and financial information

• Avoid clicking on unfamiliar websites or ads that offer items at unrealistic discounted prices. If a deal from an unknown seller seems too good to be true, it more than likely is

• Be wary of online retailers who use a free email service instead of a company email address

• Beware of purchases or services that require payment in the form of gift cards, cryptocurrency or wire transfers

• Make sure financial accounts are secured with strong passwords

• Regularly and thoroughly check credit card statements and, if possible, consider setting up credit card transaction alerts

• Never make online purchases using public Wi-Fi

• Always get a tracking number for online orders and track items through confirmation emails

• Only purchase gift cards from a trusted merchant and do so directly

• Ensure that anti-virus software is up to date on your computer and block pop-up windows

Remember - always watch for scams!