Utilizing the web to buy products or services saves significant time and effort as well as gives you a wide range of choice. However, there are risks associated with online shopping and you have to take care of what you are purchasing, from whom you are purchasing, and how you are going to pay for your purchases. Discussed below are the risks of online shopping as well as the safe shopping techniques.
The Risks
- Fraud resulting from making payments over unsecured web pages and through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection.
Bogus and fake online stores/shops and sites offers for products that don’t exist just to loot your money.
Usually, people receive goods which do not match the advertiser’s description.
Safe Shopping
- Ensure that any online retailer unfamiliar to you is reputable and trustworthy by researching them and establishing a physical address and telephone contact details.
Always prefer to pay via credit card as it the most secure way of payment as it is not linked to whatever funds you actually own.
Some websites will redirect you to a third-party payment service always be sure before making payments.- Never use an unsecured Wi-Fi for payments.
- Never transfer the money directly into the bank account when making a payment to an individual, always use the secure websites like Pay Pal etc. and check sellers’ privacy policy and returns policy.
- Finally, log out of the online shopping website, you have logged in for shopping.
- Keep receipts of what you have shopped online through the particular site, and always check the credit card and bank statements after shopping to ensure that the correct amount has been debited, and also that no fraud has been made while making transactions.
