Online shopping red flags to look out for this holiday season

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The holiday season is getting underway and so is shopping online to find the perfect gift.

However, there are some things to look out for to keep financial and other personal information private this holiday season.

“There are some big red flags and roadblocks you need to watch for because the con artists are really getting slicker at how they steal your information,” said Heather Clary, community and media relations coordinator with the Better Business Bureau.

Clary said one of the red flags include sites that may look like a well-known retailer on the surface but have URLs that are off by a letter or two. She said one way to check if a site is secure is to make sure it says ‘https’ at the beginning of the URL.

According to Clary, social media sites are especially risky for shopping scams.

“You order something, you don’t get it, they’ve got your money, and you can’t find them, the page is gone,” she said. “You want to use extra caution if you are going to think about using something like that.”

She said another tell is when it is hard to find a direct contact with customer service, or if the only payment options are online platforms such as Zelle or PayPal. Clary said credit cards are the way to go when it comes to paying on reputable sites.

“You have protections there where you can dispute a charge,” she said. “If something goes wrong, you don’t get what you thought you were supposed to get.”

Especially with some of the big-ticket items this holiday season, Clary said to trust your instincts.

“If there’s that hard-to-get item and it’s a really low price, ask yourself, ‘is this coming from a legitimate seller’?” she said.

If you believe that you have been scammed, or may have almost fell victim to one, you are encouraged to report it to the Better Business Bureau’s scam tracker.

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