As the holiday season approaches and you begin to wind down for a well-deserved break, cybercriminals are ramping up to defraud unsuspecting on-line shoppers during the busiest shopping period of the year. No, cybercriminals don’t take a holiday – quite the opposite, this is the time when cybercrime is most active, so online shoppers beware and take note of these 10 tips to avoid a not-so-happy holiday.
1. Check links before you click
Always hover over links before you click to check they look accurate for the site you are looking at or buying from. Also, fake shopping sites often don’t have the secure SSL ‘Closed Padlock’ icon.
2. Don't open attachments with special offers
It’s a classic scam. The offer should be in the email and you should be able to see it right away.
3. Watch for malicious ads and popups
Do not click on ads that sound too good to be true, and ignore popups that might propose the “best deal ever”.
4. Use a secure payment service to buy stuff online if possible
Use a credit card or PayPal, NEVER use a debit card to make online purchases but use that debit card to take out cash only.
5. Beware of e-skimmers
This is a new one. You know how bad guys sometimes skim your credit card at gas stations or ATMs? Well, there is a new flavour of that, the shopping website you order from might be infected with a “e-skimmer” and they steal your card data when you check out. You can prevent that by using PayPal.
6. Do not shop over a public WiFi
You simply do not know if it’s secure and who is data-’listening’. Only shop using a secure, trusted network. If you have no other way to shop, use a VPN which encrypts your traffic.
7. Be very careful when you see a free offer during the holidays
There is an explosion of all kinds of survey fraud and gift card scams.
8. Do not re-use any of your passwords
Instead, use a password manager (we recommend LastPass) to create hard-to-break passwords. Re-using any password is literally an invitation to get hacked. If you don’t want to use a password manager, a strong password is at least 12 characters, e.g. a ‘passphrase’ such as iwalkmydog@6am
9. Keep a close eye on your credit card and bank accounts
During this season, unexpected and strange charges might appear which could very well be the first sign your card or even your whole identity has been stolen. If you think you might have been scammed, stay calm and call your credit card company, block the card and request a new one.
10. Be especially suspicious of gift card scams
They can be a perfect holiday gift, but gift card scams are skyrocketing. Only buy gift cards from trusted sources.
