Pitfalls Of Online Shopping: What You Should Do For Not Falling Victim To Scammers?
Purchasing things on the Internet offers several advantages, including the ability to save time on the road, compare costs, read reviews on items and services, and select a trustworthy vendor. Internet buyers have access to a considerably greater selection than in any offline store. But, buying on the Internet has a number of drawbacks: if you pay for the products with a credit card, you may not receive them, and your personal information may fall into the hands of scammers. Furthermore, because the Internet is constantly available – you don't need to travel to the store to buy something – buying products online might be more addictive than you may think.
So what should you be careful about when buying goods online?
Beware of too big discounts
The concept of the security of paying for things online usually comes last in the mind of a potential buyer.
There are numerous diversions on the Internet: you must have time to buy products before the deal ends, or when no one is distracting you at home. Furthermore, the home setting provides greater comfort and security than the ambience of a shopping center or market. When a person comes across a scammer, they are masterfully provoked into fast, unthinking acts.
As a rule, scammers send letters about huge discounts on certain products. However, in such mailings lies the first pitfall of paying for purchases of goods via the Internet. By clicking on the link, a potential buyer may end up on a phishing site.
Shop on trusted sites
The disadvantages of online shopping include the inability to touch or try on the product. And many people have doubts when buying. In order for the thing that you receive to be as similar as possible to the photo, you must follow certain rules.
- Make purchases in trusted online stores. For example, the flower delivery store https://djflowers.ae/ has a huge number of live, unretouched photos of flowers, as well as many reviews in the Google search engine with photos of flower bouquets. Also, the site doesn’t require the input of card data, which means that you will definitely not be deceived by scammers. Payment for the bouquet occurs only after receiving the flowers.
- Study the product card and size chart if you buy clothes. Pay attention to the model in these clothes, her height. Watch the video, it's a great way to see the fit and even the quality of the fabric. Read product reviews.
- Don’t forget to read the terms of delivery and return. Choose a convenient way: courier delivery, pickup points, parcel lockers. If there is only delivery among the options, while there are no reviews or company registration address, it is worth doubting.
Enter the store address manually
The most common pitfall of online shopping is paying for goods through a phishing site. And despite the fact that large banks are directing more and more efforts and funds to prevent fraud, a lot depends on the attention and financial and information literacy of the clients themselves.
It is best to start shopping by going to the main page of the online store you need, entering its address manually. As a rule, the victims of phishing sites are users who follow a link posted on the pages of another resource, for example, with a product review.
Get a virtual card
A virtual card (a digital analogue of a regular card) will help you avoid money losses on phishing sites, containing the minimum limit of funds that you need only to pay for goods and services on the Internet. The risk of its compromise, that is, the appearance of the card number in the bases of scammers.
Summary
The growing popularity of online shopping is primarily due to saving time. The purchase process is simplified and shortened to a minimum: place an order, pay online, and the delivery service is already at your door! It is convenient and profitable, because there is nothing more valuable than time.
But in this regard, there are more and more scammers. So take care of yourself and your data!
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