Simple tips for online shopping security ahead of Cyber Monday

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – As you gear up to make purchases on Cyber Monday, the Better Business Bureau is warning you about an increase in scams and theft from online shopping. Carmen Million, the president of the BBB of South Central Louisiana, says anyone who doesn’t pay close attention is at risk.

“If you’re looking for a specific item that everybody wants this year but the price is too good to be true, it probably is,” Million says. “The most vulnerable are those that don’t investigate, those that don’t do their homework, those that allow their emotions to make a decision instead of their common sense.”

Million says online shopping has evolved but so have the scammers. Nowadays it’s harder to tell what’s legitimate and what’s not. Million says the most common type they’re seeing is a phishing scam.

“We used to tell people – look for misspellings, look for things that don’t seem right, but with artificial intelligence, they are able to correct those little issues, so it’s harder to determine if it’s a valid site,” Million says.

Million says one way to play it safe, is to make sure you’re using a credit card or PayPal to make online purchases. This is especially important with businesses outside of the United States.

“If you use your debit card, it’s like withdrawing cash from your account, you have to then fight to get it back and that may not be an easy process,” Million says.

She says you should limit the amount of personal information you give to websites because once you’re a victim of identity theft, it can take years to get that resolved.

“Make sure the site you’re on is protected, if there’s a lock and key at the bottom, that’s wonderful, but click on it to see if it’s actually activated. In the line in the address, it should say https – s stands for secure, those are two simple things to look at,” Million says. “Scroll to the very bottom of that site, click on about us, you’re looking for an address, a phone number, information on the company. If it’s lacking – that’s a concern.”

If you need to report a scam, you can visit the BBB website, or for more serious incidents – report to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or the IC3.

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