Although you could do some detailed study and educate yourself about things like identity theft vs credit card theft, malware protection, security protocols and things like that, there are some basic things you must always pay heed to while shopping on the internet. Let’s go through the top 6 of the top tips.
Always use a secure Internet connection
Although using public Wi-Fi networks may be cost effective and convenient, the reality is that in most cases these networks are pretty unreliable. Any information packet you transmit over such public connections can be easily captured by the cyber criminals and hackers. It’s for this reason, experts always discourage transacting or making purchases over public networks. Instead, you must always use the network connection on your phone or whichever other private network you have access to.
Update your computer regularly and keep it protected
Locate and review the return and privacy policy of the website
Before you purchase anything on a website, ensure that the online vendor has clearly displayed its privacy policy on all the webpages. Furthermore, this policy should be up to date and transparent. Apart from that, the return policy should also be clearly accessible. These are a couple of very important aspects that you must pay heed to before shopping anywhere on the internet.
Shop only at reputable and well-known websites
Often when you’re scouting for the best and cost-effective offers on the Internet, you end up visiting unreliable and unknown websites. You must avoid making purchases at any of them. Before you take out your credit/debit card to pay, always ensure that URL of the website you’re shopping at matches with the one you had in mind. Genuine websites’ URLs would normally begin with an https. Shopping at only the well-known and reputable websites is one the easiest way to protect yourself from data or identity theft on the Internet.
Share personal info only if it is necessary and asked through a secure form
If a website surprisingly asks you for unexpected personal details like your place of birth, relative’s name, mobile number etc., during the payment processing process, avoid providing any such information to them. Additionally, you should always use a virtual keyboard while feeding-in any pin numbers or login IDs during online payments.
Never click any fishy links inside ads or emails
Sometimes you may receive emails consisting of too good to be true offers. Many times they actually are! Cyber criminals and hackers regularly use such discounts and offers related ads and emails to trick innocent people. It’s a phenomenon known as phishing in the cybercrime circles. Make it a thumb rule to never click on any links inside such ads or emails.
