Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the start of the Christmas shopping season in the US and Europe marks the period when the internet is loaded not only with tremendous offers but also with scams and phishing attacks – benefiting on distracted impulse purchasers. How to avoid getting scammed and not lose money when doing your shopping at discount prices?
Smartphones the typical price of which is over a thousand are offered for a few hundred euros, discounts for watches are up to 70%, and so on – these are just a few examples of deals that are look too good to be a reality.
Blumpay CEO Denys Chernyshov stresses that when talking about discounts – there are usually no miracles. The normal difference in prices that can be offered in stores is estimated in the following way: resellers normally get 5-20% discounts from wholesalers, so it is advised to apply this number to base prices on. If an item is over 25% cheaper in one shop compared to another and that shop which “highly affordable pricing” is a small unknown merchant – better check it thoroughly one more time prior to conducting the checkout.
Modern fraudsters are now able to forge security certificates, so purchasers should pay attention to other aspects of the legitimacy of the merchant. One of the easiest things man can do is to try to call the shop on the phone and check their address. The task is to ensure that these contact details do really exist.
It is also important to find answers for such questions as “Does the shop have social media accounts?”, “Are there any reviews or comments?”, “Is the shop owner a legal entity and can you check them on publicly available sources”? These questions will help you to minimize the risks to be deluded by scammers.
In addition, if a merchant is demanding to transfer money straight to their account and promises to send you the goods – be alerted. Proper and reputable online shops offer many payment options to their clients – online banking, cards, SMS, and others.
Sales at the end of the year can really make one’s head spin and it is often the case that purchasers become less careful about spending and monitoring their finances.
In this hurry – don’t forget to check not just Internet stores but also online banking platforms where you submit all your login data. Ensure you are directed on to the official banking page, there are no odd symbols in the URL, and authentication codes on your phone do match the ones on the desktop.
If you notice some unauthorized transactions from your account – contact your financial institution as quickly as possible. No one wants to hand a holiday gift to fraudsters.
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