Online shopping warnings ahead of Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 23, 2022 – Fox59 Morning News
Millions of Americans will shop for the holidays from their smart devices instead of a traditional store. But this time of year, opens opportunities for scammers to steal your money and your personal information.
“We’re seeing a lot of social media ads that are pushing people toward fake stores, fake websites again where they’re either promising a ridiculously low price on an item, something that just doesn’t exist,” Gary Brickhouse, Chief Information Security Officer at GuidePoint Security, said.
Here are four ways experts say consumers can best protect themselves from online scams:
- Don’t click links in emails; go straight to the company’s website
- Check reviews of sellers and websites before you purchase an item
- If you do believe you entered personal information into a suspicious website, freeze your credit card accounts
- Pay with credit card when possible
Experts say if a browser extension wants to monitor your online traffic or store personal information, those are red flags, and you should continue researching other extensions.
“You can find plugins everywhere, but we want to look at ones from official locations like the Chrome web store or from like a Firefox browser add-on,” Brickhouse explained.
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