Technical Tips for Safe Shopping Online This Holiday Season

Posted by Akash Dwivedi on December 19th, 2021

Cybercrimes are not secret any more, almost all people who buy from online platforms know about online scams and frauds over the years that make customers hesitate to shop. Now, after the invasion pandemic, as people are avoiding crowded places; more and more people are approaching online shopping platforms, but the question remains the same; is online shopping safe? Though many platforms use all effective measures to protect their customers from online scams and frauds, they seem to be inevitable, especially during the holiday season; when e-commerce platforms experience heavy footfall due to festive time. 

Even the cautious users become less attentive during festive seasons due to numerous offers and deals floating over the internet and get trapped by these attackers. The attraction of these offers, ads are difficult to avoid, but you can avoid these scams by being extra cautious while online shopping. We have curated a list of holiday online shopping safety tips for a safe shopping experience.  

Let\'s  have a look at a few tips for safe online shopping: 

Use of familiar and known websites: Many online retailers over the internet are fabricated like legitimate platforms. Malicious attackers create identical platforms and offer to attract customers to gain access to your data and banking information. 

Many fake online stores are set up for users to click, and they redirect you to register for the platform with personal details. Therefore, consider trusted, known, and safe online shopping sites. It\'s better if you only buy from reputed and trusted platforms. However, if you find good deals at different platforms and want to try them, make sure you cautiously notice what kind of details they are asking for to register on the platform. 

Don\'t click on a link delivered by email without confirming twice: Often, during the holiday season, our mails are flooded with emails such as can\'t wait to buy a Laptop at 80% off? Click on the to avail of the offer right now. 

These e-mails can be phishing attacks to gather your data. So, be aware before clicking on such offers, especially from unknown platforms. However, if it\'s a good deal, and you don\'t want to pass it, then search for the company name on the web. Conduct a little research to confirm if they are reliable or not.

Use trusted apps for safe online shopping: One of the most common and useful online shopping safety tips is to use trusted apps. Make sure you download shopping apps from trusted platforms. Moreover, they should be from trusted platforms such as the Android market, Apple app store, Amazon app store, etc. When you click on download, often these platforms ask for various permissions along with terms and conditions. 

This is the point where users become careless and give permissions without reading policies, to avoid wasting. However, they are one of the crucial factors to prevent your data from sharing. Before you allow these apps to enter into your device data, make sure you check their reliability through feedback in comment sections or ratings.

Look for additional S in website URL: The best way to identify platform authenticity or safe online shopping sites is looking for their SSL certifications. You can verify, if they have SSL Certification by looking for additional S at the beginning of their URL address \"http://\", especially on pages where you enter your password or personal details. 

However, it doesn\'t mean they are 100% secure, but they give you additional security. Another way to identify secure and authentic websites is by visual cues such as a Lock Symbol and a green-colored address bar before you give away your bank details or personal information. These protocols of SSL Certificates and lock symbols, etc., protect online transactions with encryption. 

Create unique and strong passwords: One way to avoid or prevent online frauds is through unique and strong Passwords. Every time you register for authentic websites, make sure you enter strong passwords as suggested by the platform. 

These passwords are difficult to decode, so they provide additional security. Moreover, it\'s wise to keep different passwords on different platforms because if one platform is hacked, other data will be safe. Furthermore, try to avoid writing and saving passwords on your mobile or laptop devices. 

Avoid public Wi-Fi for online shopping: It\'s easy to get tempted to attach with free Wi-Fi or Public Wi-Fi while shopping or surfing the internet for crucial work such as banking transactions. But these public Wi-Fi\'s make it easy for online hackers to access and interpret into the system to steal your data while you\'re making a purchase. So, one of the best ways to avoid online attacks is through a private network.

Be cautious of internet ads: Not everything you see on the internet is authentic. When surfing over the internet, we often encounter various deals and offers provided by various online platforms. However, they are not always authentic ads, some of these are lucrative tactics by online attackers to redirect or bring you into a platform created by them to gather details. Often these ads are too good to be avoided, so customers find themselves clicking over these ads that redirect to platforms or websites for registration. 

Use Effective security walls or software in your devices: One of the best tips for safe online shopping includes the installation of security into your device. This additional strong software creates a firewall on your device to protect it from unwanted crawlers or viruses entering your device. This software is strong and notifies you of online attackers and any dangerous website. Many Software products such as K7, Quick, Norton 360, Bitdefender, etc., are available to provide extra protection for your device. 

Final thoughts: These tips for safe online shopping are some of the most effective and powerful hacks that every customer needs to know. These tips can save you from huge shopping scams online, especially during the holiday season. So, if you\'re planning to grab lucrative offers and deals from various online platforms, make sure you keep these tips in mind while shopping online from webstores.