Tis the Season… to Practice Safe Online Shopping

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The holiday shopping season is quickly approaching! According to Deloitte’s 2017 Holiday Retail Survey, shoppers are planning to spend 51% of their holiday shopping budget online, compared to 42% in stores (this is the first year that online sales are expected to exceed in-store sales). With incredible online deals, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and mark downs that now lead right through the holidays - who can resist!

While online shopping makes our purchasing (and lives!) that much easier, unfortunately, we also see an increase in shopping scams during the holiday season. These include fake shipping notifications, purchase receipts and gift card offers. Use our tips below to have an enjoyable and safe holiday shopping experience:

Fake Shipping Notifications and Purchase Receipts: There’s nothing like a shipping notification or receipt for something you didn’t buy to catch your attention. When you receive these emails, be sure to look carefully at the sender and the full website address of any links in the message. If you are unsure of the validity of the message, head to a browser and type in the URL of the website, rather than clicking on the link in the email.

Gift Card Offers: Over the holidays, there is a big uptick in the number of fake gift card offers that are sent via email. As with any email message, always check who the sender is carefully and open a browser to visit the company’s website instead of clicking on the link in the email.

Reputable Vendors: Always stick with reputable vendors when shopping online. If the website is new to you, consider using Paypal as your payment option! Always be sure the website starts with https:// -- the “s” indicates that all communications with the website are encrypted and secure.

We hope you have a very happy holiday season! If you have any concerns about the emails you are receiving, give us a call at 401-825-4401 and we can help you evaluate it.

Written By Meredith Carroll, Vertikal6 Senior Consultant

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