The holiday season is officially upon us! Now that we are past Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you may think that you’re in the clear when it comes to safe online holiday shopping, but unfortunately, you’re not. Here are a few scams to watch out for this holiday shopping season.
Commonly, online criminals will create websites that are eerily similar to popular websites that contain phishing hooks and malware all over them. When accessing a popular online shopping website, make sure you look closely at the URL. To ensure your online safety, look for “https:” next to the URL. If it doesn’t contain that “S” at the end of it, then the website is not secure, and you should leave it immediately. That “S” stands for secure; make sure it’s always there.
Along those lines, after you’ve placed an order, be careful as to what you open in your email. Although an email may look innocent, there is a chance that it may not be. Before you click on anything in the email, make sure that it’s from a sender you trust or bought something from. Occasionally, an email might come through with tracking information on it, but the links to track a package are actually links to download malicious software to your computer that will collect information on you. What a holiday nightmare!
As a way to be environmentally friendly, families have turned to e-cards for their holiday greetings. It can be a pleasant surprise to receive one of these in your email inbox, but before opening it, make sure you know who the sender is. Scammers have found that innocuous e-cards are great ways to phish for personal information. If an e-card email requires any type of personal information from you to view the card, ignore it! It’s unlikely that a card that was sent from a family member or friend to you would require you to create an account to view their nice e-greeting.
The lesson this holiday season is to be sure of what you’re clicking on before you do. With a little extra care, you quite possibly may prevent an additional holiday headache (being around your in-laws is already enough).
The bottom line is that there’s really no better time than the present to become a LibertyID member for identity theft restoration protection. LibertyID provides expert, full service, fully managed identity theft restoration to individuals, couples, extended families* and businesses. LibertyID has a 100% success rate in resolving all forms of identity fraud on behalf of our subscribers.
*Extended families – primary individual, their spouse/partner, both sets of parents (including those that have been deceased for up to a year), and all children under the age of 25