Technology becomes more and more sophisticated with each passing day, leading to advancements that optimize the way people communicate, interact, work, and buy goods. However, the ingenuity of people focused on finding new ways to take advantage of this technology in combination with their trusting nature has led to new realities. Some examples include recent breaches to commercial and political institutions using methods such as phishing scams and social engineering hoaxes. Hackers (opportunistic information hijackers) use various channels to reach their victims, from telephone, email, websites and even postal mail. This article will go a little deeper into how you can avoid becoming a victim of malicious activity by hackers. Here are 3 things to consider before shopping 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 taken by websites. For example, does a third-party certificate provider protect 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 and that it begins with “https: //” helps to confirm the security of a site. You may also want to confirm that the website is PCI compliant, an accreditation established by major credit card providers to confirm that the website manages 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 information. . One way to verify the credibility of an online business is to validate that they have a historical presence by eliminating the notion that they could be a makeshift operation. One resource that you can access that could provide you with a confidence rating would be to check with your local Better Business Bureau (BBB). They can be helpful in getting information about the company behind the website along with their respective qualifications. You can also do a simple search for reviews for that same company and confirm that a third-party vendor has tagged the company 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
This topic is simple to write. Consumers expect clear and unambiguous sales policies. That means that the product sold on a website must be clearly priced and any additional fees clearly described. This is of utmost importance to the inexperienced buyer who presumes that they are dealing with transparency while surprises lurk. 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 his item. In fact, the total order can increase between 10 and 15 percent. Fortunately, there is a simple way to avoid these false tactics. Go back to the simple sum and confirm that the total value of the ordered items is added. Once you do, it will immediately highlight any discrepancies related to possible additional fees that the provider might be trying to apply. This non-transparent sales strategy is a popular deceptive means used to trick the consumer into buying from a vendor who advertises low prices in advance to entice the consumer, after which they may charge them hidden and / or in-store processing fees. back-end during checkout. It is important to identify vendors who practice price manipulation tactics because once all hidden and / or processing fees are added to the order, the savings the consumer expected to achieve could be significantly diminished or even eliminated entirely.
While the Internet offers many benefits ranging from open competition, shopping from home, to 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 non-transparent pricing schemes from deceptive vendors.
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