Online Shopping Safety Tips
Online shopping this holiday season is expected to be the preferred shopping method.
Cyber-thieves will no doubt capitalize on this trend, in order to obtain users’ personal, credit card, and banking information.
Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman would like to give the following recommendations to help you safely navigate common online shopping hazards:
1. Check your antivirus software and make sure it is up to date.
There are several apps available in the Google Play and Apple Store to assist you with securing your mobile devices too.
2. Change passwords to online shopping sites regularly, and don’t use the same passwords for all accounts.
If one shopping account is compromised, crooks can easily apply that password and username across multiple shopping platforms.
3. Utilize multi-factor authentication available on your email accounts to prevent unauthorized access to your email accounts.
4. Keep a close eye on your bank accounts.
Don’t overlook small charges as they could be ‘probe’ attempts by crooks to see if an account is viable for larger theft attempts.
5. Do not conduct online shopping using public wi-fi spots.
Even with a password, there is no guarantee as to how secure that network is, or who is monitoring the traffic on that network.
6. Be wary of emails purporting to be from your bank or other institution you recognize.
Remember, these institutions will never ask you for your personal information via email.
Never respond to text or emails from unknown sources, and don’t open attachments from them either.
Attachments are the number one way malicious malware and viruses are transmitted.
Remember, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.