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Finding the perfect holiday gift is not always a simple task. Sometimes, it can take hours going from store to store searching for the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Some shoppers even skip the in-person shopping entirely and just do it all online. Salesforce predicts in their 2024 Holiday Forecast that holiday online sales are expected to increase 2% in the next few months, total $1.19 trillion globally and $277 billion nationally.
While convenient and time effective, online holiday shopping isn’t without its headaches. Just as thieves take advantage of crowded stores to steal wallets, scammers and hackers use this time of year to take advantage of online shoppers, too.
Strong anti-virus software is a must-have this season (and every season, for that matter). Anti-virus software protects your computer from viruses and can detect and remove them if they do make it onto your computer. But that’s not all you need: Be sure to regularly install your computer’s updates and run virus scans to be sure there’s nothing infecting your computer.
A Google search for “affordable winter boots” brings up a host of well-known retailers, but other results are a little sketchy. If you’ve never heard of the retailer before, and the deals seem too good to be true or the website is poor quality, be wary. It could be a scam site that’s just after your personal information.
Always proceed with caution when it comes to email links. Scammers will often send phishing emails that appear to be from well-known retailers and include a link to a too-good-to-be-true holiday offer. If you click on the link, it goes to a scam site or downloads malware onto your computer. Look for misspellings in the email, a tone that’s not consistent with what you’ve received before or anything else out of the ordinary. If you’re still not sure, hover over the link before you click on it. If the URL doesn’t match the URL of the retailer’s website, it’s probably a scam.
Before you hand over your credit card information to a retailer, verify that the checkout is secure. A URL that begins with https:// means the site is using an SSL certificate, which secures all your data as it passes from the website to the server and keeps it safe from hackers. To get an SSL certificate, a company must go through a validation process.
Be on the lookout for phishy (get it?) confirmation scams this holiday season. These emails, which appear to come from retailers like Target, Walmart and Home Depot, are actually the work of scammers. They typically reference an order – which may or may not be real – and include a link. If you click on the link, you’ll download malware onto your computer that would harvest your usernames and passwords and send junk email from your machine.
If you get a confirmation email for an order you didn’t place, don’t click on any links. If the email seems legit, write down the order number, go to the website, and track the order directly on the site vs. clicking on the link. It’s an extra step that could save you some serious headaches.
Though scammers love to take advantage of shoppers during the holidays, don’t let them turn you into a Grinch. Be savvy, trust your gut if a site seems suspicious and do a little research before you shop with a retailer you’ve never used before. Check out the Better Business Bureau (BBB) ratings or simply do a Google search to see if any reviews come up. As long as you’re careful, there’s no reason you can’t safely tuck into some online shopping deals this year.
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