Online Shopping Safety Tips

Cyber Monday is behind us, but that doesn’t mean more fantastic online deals aren’t still ahead. Tens of millions of dollars were spent online yesterday, and the allure of all of those cyber transactions has scammers and thieves salivating. Don’t be their next victim.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office provided these tips to help you protect yourself (and your bank accounts):

• Always use a secure network when online shopping- that means never using public WIFI.
• When creating usernames and passwords, make sure they are unique. Resist the convenience of using the same user ID’s and passwords for multiple accounts.
• If given the option, take the extra time to enable the two-step authentication feature, which will send a code to your cell phone to insure you are the same person attempting to make an online purchase.
• Monitor your credit card accounts closely. Question and check into any unfamiliar or unauthorized transactions. You can also use a notification feature on many sites, such as Amazon, which will send you a text notification any time a purchase is made to your account.
• Be aware of fraudulent websites that may look like a familiar store. The legitimate URL should start with HTTPS and should also have a lock symbol next to the address.

According to Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves, a scammer usually has most of the information they need to take advantage of you, but one piece of the puzzle is missing.

“As we’ve mentioned in the past, I again want to remind residents to never give out their bank account, address, social security, phone number or other information to an unknown person over the telephone. Many times scammers may have a portion of the information, and only need one more thing in order to carry out their scam.”