I'm sharing an article that is very important to me as I was hacked and a victim of identity theft and fraud. Check out the "9 things you should know to avoid online fraud while shopping." Prevention is key to keeping your identity and credit safe.
Happy Parenting,
Tania
9 Tips from NordVPNs’ Security Expert on How to
Stay Safe
As holiday shopping begins, be wary of online shopping and stay safe with these tips.
“More and more parents and teachers are shopping online. It’s understandable, as online shopping is less stressful and likely
cheaper. These days it is absolutely possible to get all you need for school
without ever leaving your home,” says Daniel Markuson, NordVPN Digital Privacy
Expert. “But there’s bad news as well - online shopping frauds and identity
theft are on the rise.”
While scammers, hackers, and other shady individuals are polishing new
techniques, many online shoppers are still unaware of the basic online privacy
rules. According to NordVPN’s Daniel Markuson, there are some simple steps that
help avoid online fraud.
9 things you should know to avoid online fraud
while shopping
1. Look into the
online store
You should ideally stick to websites you trust or have bought from
before, as there are some online stores created by scammers who just want to
get your credit card information. Otherwise, do the research: Do they interact
on social media? Are there any customer reviews? Are there any spam complaints?
Check their email, phone number or address - if you can’t find any of those, it
might be a fake company.
2. Too good to be
true? Scam!
Criminals use two main techniques to scam you during the back to
school sales season: rock-bottom prices and email scams. If the deal seems too
good to be true - it probably is. Extremely low rates, when compared to similar
stores, may mean that the website exists only to get your personal information.
Similarly, scammy email deals promise a too-good-to-be-true prices or freebies,
but clicking on them could infect your computer or smartphone with viruses and
malware.
3. URL should
start with ‘https’
When making an online payment or entering any personal information,
the first thing you should check is whether the webpage URL starts with ‘https’ rather than ‘http’. The tiny ‘s’
means that the connection is made through a secure protocol and your data is
encrypted properly.
4. Don’t give too
much personal data
Pay attention whenever a website requests for more information or
permissions than is necessary. If you are asked to provide very personal
details that seem unrelated or excessive, it usually signals a scam. You should
always think twice before providing your personal or financial information
anywhere on the Internet.
5. Stay away from
public WiFi
It’s never a good idea to shop online while you are connected to a
public WiFi network at a cafe, hotel, city park or any other public place. Public WiFi networks are common hunting grounds for hackers and data snoopers, who try to
access your personal and financial information, such as credit card details.
6. Use a VPN to
encrypt your traffic
Can’t resist doing your shopping while on public WiFi? Then you need a
VPN (Virtual Private Network). VPN encrypts your Internet traffic and is the
best security mechanism you can employ to make sure your browsing data remains
safe from spying eyes. From the moment a user turns on a VPN, like NordVPN, their Internet data is encrypted. It becomes invisible to
third-party snoopers or hackers and even NordVPN itself.
7. Always use
strong passwords
The most popular password is… ‘password.’ People are so overwhelmed
with how many accounts and passwords they need that they go the easy way. Don’t
do that. You need to change your passwords regularly and use a combination of
capital letters, numerals, letters, and punctuation. For example, if you live
on Flower Road, you can use ‘fL0w3rR04d!’ for a password. Additionally, share
some tips with your family members on how to create strong passwords.
8. Mind the
details
Stay organized: keep all the receipts, order confirmation numbers and
other documentation you got after an online purchase. Also, don’t forget to
check your credit card statements regularly, at least once a week. If you see
some unexpected activities - recall whether you really authorized the charge.
Your bank or other credit card provider can help you solve the problem.
9. Catch the bad
guys!
And finally, if you fell into the trap laid for you by some shady cyber
criminal - be a good citizen and report the incident. It might not help you,
but it will make the Internet a safer place for us all. First of all, notify
your credit card company or bank and then - file a complaint to the state
authorities."
Article Courtesy of NordVPN:
NordVPN is the
world’s most advanced VPN service provider that is more security oriented than
most VPN services. It offers double VPN encryption, ad blocking & Onion
Over VPN. The product is very user friendly, offers one of the best prices on
the market, has over 4,500 servers worldwide and is P2P friendly. One of the
key features of NordVPN is zero log policy. For more information:
www.nordvpn.com.
