HONOLULU (KHON2) — With some stores running Cyber Monday deals throughout the week, don’t let your guard down. Cyber and retail experts said fake ads and fake sales get victims all the time.
Shop smarter this Cyber Monday by verifying every online purchase.
“The bad guys will set up websites that look a lot like what we’re used to seeing from the most famous shopping sites, whether it’s Amazon or Walmart,” stated Dale Dixon, Chief Innovation Officer for the Better Business Bureau (BBB), “It’s actually that URL address bar taking you to someplace completely different.”
Cyber security experts said thousands of people become victims of holiday scams every year. According to Derek Gabriel, CEO of Ignite Solutions Group, there are four main scams:
- Non-delivery: The buyer pays for an item but never receives it
- Non-payment: The buyer ships an item but never receives payment
- Auction fraud: The seller misrepresents the quality or condition of an item on an auction site
- Gift card fraud: The seller asks the buyer to pay with a gift card
“The FBI actually has put out a report on the increased prevalence of scams this year,” said Gabriel.
To protect yourself online, take a look at reviews and do more research before making that purchase.
“Dig a little deeper into these people, look at their Yelp reviews,” stated Tina Yamaki, Retail Merchants of Hawaii President. “If you have low reviews like, ‘I didn’t get my item, the item I got was wrong, it was broken, it was damaged,’ those are red flags, too.”
The BBB also suggests understanding return policies and keeping good records of your purchase process through pictures and screenshots.
“Those screenshots should include the URL for the website where you are shopping,” said Dixon.
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When checking out, paying with a credit card can be safer.
“If you enter a debit card into a fraudulent website and they capture that payment information and get your PIN number, then they’re going to be able to siphon as much money out of that bank account as possible, whereas there are fraud protection protections with a credit card,” said Dixon.