Technology is becoming more and more sophisticated with each passing day, leading to advances that streamline the way people communicate, interact, work, and shop for goods. However, the ingenuity of people focused on finding new ways to take advantage of this technology in combination with their trusting nature has resulted in new realities. Some examples include recent breaches of commercial and political institutions using methods such as phishing scams and social engineering deceptions. Hackers (opportunistic information hijackers) use various channels to reach their victims, from phone, email, websites and even postal mail. This article will go a little deeper into how you can avoid falling victim to malicious activities perpetrated by hackers. Below are 3 things to consider before buying online.

1) Security

Security is paramount to protect your financial profile, but also your most intimate information. Before buying online it is important, and sometimes crucial, to avoid trivializing the security measures that websites take. For example, is a third-party certificate provider protecting the website? Do they use certificates such as the extended validation certificates offered by major web security providers, such as Verisign/Norton Secured and Thawte, to validate the authenticity and credibility of a company? Looking at the address bar and confirming that there is a green security symbol next to the URL beginning with “https://” helps confirm the security of a site. You may also want to confirm that the website is PCI compliant, an accreditation set by major credit card providers to confirm that the website is handling credit card information securely.

2) Confirmation of credibility

Confirming the credibility of an entity is another important factor to consider. There are many sites online that are created for the sole purpose of collecting end user information such as emails, passwords, secret security questions and answers in an effort to exploit and use this information to gain access to even more personal and private. One way to check the credibility of an online business is to validate that it has a historical presence, which removes the notion that it might be a passing operation. One resource you can access that might give you a trust rating would be to check with your local Better Business Bureau (BBB). They can be useful for getting information about the company behind the website along with their respective ratings. You can also do a simple search against reviews for that same business and confirm that a third-party vendor has tagged the business as a trusted entity, such as “Google Trusted Stores.” Some of these third-party seals also provide additional consumer protection against potential fraud.

3) Price transparency

It is easy to write about this topic. Consumers expect clear and unambiguous sales policies. That means the product being sold on a website must be clearly priced and any additional fees clearly described. This is of paramount importance to the inexperienced buyer who assumes that he is dealing with transparency while surprises lie in wait. Deceptive traders are sometimes very obvious with their tactics and at other times they can be quite covert about it. Some of the tactics may include hidden fees described as processing, insurance and handling fees or variations thereof. The simple result is that the consumer may be subject to a substantial increase in the cost of their item. In fact, the order total can increase by ten to fifteen percent. Fortunately, there is a simple way to avoid these bogus tactics. Go back to the simple sum and confirm that the total value of the ordered items adds up. Once you do, it will immediately highlight any discrepancies related to potential additional fees the provider might be trying to tack on. This opaque sales strategy is a popular deceptive means used to trick the consumer into purchasing from a supplier that advertises low prices up front to entice the consumer, after which it can charge hidden and/or processing fees on the spot. back-end during the checkout process. It is important to identify vendors engaging in price gouging tactics because once all hidden and/or processing fees are added to the order, the savings the consumer was hoping for could be significantly diminished or even eliminated entirely.

Although the Internet offers many benefits ranging from open competition, home shopping, orders delivered conveniently to your doorstep, it is necessary to remain vigilant in an effort to safeguard your private information while enjoying your shopping experience. By following the tips above, you can greatly decrease the risk of these threats occurring and avoid intransparent pricing schemes from deceptive vendors.