If you’re planning to shop for gifts online, it may prove to be a guilty pleasure as various retailers are more than happy to offer amazing deals to online shoppers. You can find anything you like and buy it right away without having to go through the hassle of travelling to a mall. As tempting as it may seem, it is still a vulnerable way of making a purchase because you risk compromising your personal information. Keeping this in mind, let’s consider the following tips to safely shop online:
Shop at Reputable Online Stores
It would be a good idea to look for reputable web stores if you want to shop online. You can start with companies that you already know provide secure online transactions. You should know how to contact them through other mediums in case you have a problem, or you can simply find out more about them through the Better Business Bureau.
Use Unique Passwords
While making an online purchase, you have to make sure your applications and online accounts use unique passwords. Having an insecure password can compromise your accounts or worse, could be stolen and used to breach other accounts if you’ve been using a universal password.
Verify before Handing out Personal Information
Before you even consider typing in your credit card information, you should verify the site’s authenticity by looking for security icons. If the web address does not have ‘https’ in the URL, it actually indicates that the site is not equipped with an important security layer.
Never Use a Debit Card for Online Purchases
When you are using a credit card, you are protected from fraudulent purchases by your bank. This is not the case with a debit card as the charges cannot be reversed and neither do you have any degree of protection from unauthorized access or purchases made using your information.
Verify the Site’s Privacy Policy
When you are shopping at a reliable online store, you are asked to comply and agree with certain terms and conditions. In other words, privacy policies protect your personal information and will inform you about the information being provided to the retailer.
Log out Once you’ve Made the Purchase
If you’re shopping using a shared computer, your personal information may have already been compromised. In most cases, people tend to forget to log out and thus become a victim a fraud since their system is still in the information, ready to be stolen.
Review your Monthly Bank Statements
If you are a habitual online shopper, it would be wise to review your monthly bank statements. This allows you to check for errors or unauthorized purchases. If any are found, you can notify your bank or lender immediately to rectify the issue.
Keeping these factors in mind, you can now safely shop online without having to worry about becoming a victim of fraud. However, this does not mean you are protected from any and all attacks. Spyware and other viruses could steal your information without you even knowing about it. This makes it important for you to take the necessary steps and learn more about precautionary measures to protect your information while shopping online.