5 Effective Ways To Protect Your Money From Online Fraud

Online shopping offers comfort. You take your mobile phone, scroll through a couple of items, choose the one you want to buy, and then place an order. The parcel will be delivered to your doorstep, and surprisingly, more often than not, you do not have to pay delivery fees. Online platforms have made shopping fun. Now you no longer have to give a dedicated time to it. You can do it before going to bed or during the lunch break in your office.

Another reason why online shopping is going mainstream is that it lets you buy things at reduced prices. In fact, electronic items can be bought at a good bargain. Of course, it is a sound decision to buy things online. During the festive season, you will get extra discounts and special deals.

But the online world is full of scammers and frauds. You are more likely to lose your valuable money, and that is not just because of impersonation. Products and services you buy are not worth the money paid.

Ways to protect your money during online shopping

It is vital to ensure that you buy goods from a trusted vendor. Various online retailers are out there, but most of them may have been operated by scammers. One of the biggest drawbacks of using online shopping platforms is that sometimes you do not know from where your product is coming. You do not realise its consequences until you have to return the product. Here are the ways how you can prevent yourself from falling prey to online fraud:

Check whether the platform is legitimate

You need to look out for the legitimacy of the platform if you have never used it before. Take a look at reviews to understand the experience of other people about buying from that site. Chances are the platform has just come to the surface, and therefore, you find nothing much to make up your mind.

Nowadays, cybercriminals are leveraging the duplicity of the design of legitimate vendors, which is very common to see in the lending industry.

• First of all, you should buy from a website which is secured. Unsecured websites should never be used to buy anything, especially when applying for loans for people with bad credit.
• Do not pursue if you find something suspicious about a website. Avoid websites that prompt you to subscribe. Handing in your email is more than enough for cybercriminals to strip you of money.
• You should always try to type the official website address in the search bar to land the right website.
• If you do not remember the URL and search by the name, make sure you do not get tempted to click the first link.

Use a credit card to pay

Credit card payments are safer than debit card payments because you are protected by the Consumer Credit Act. You can also make payments using payment services, but make sure you have read all terms and conditions to see what cover they offer. Never use bank transfers. The money you have lost is lost forever. You cannot retrieve that.

• Make sure you do not save your card details and passwords when shopping online.
• Despite credit card protection, you should always prefer cash payment at the time of delivery. It may cost you slightly extra charge, but it can prevent you from long-term losses.
• Only fill in the mandatory details when paying through your card.
• Some websites ask you to create an account and get details like your name, contact number and email address. Avoid doing so because that will never benefit you. If you still want to, make sure you do not let them retain your card details.
• Do not trust websites that say your card details will not be saved. The fact is that they are retained by companies, and they do not even share your details with third-party sites. You can find this information on their terms and conditions page. That is why cash payment should be preferred.
• After filling in the details, a pop-up will appear on your browser: “Want to save the details/password?” Never save them.
• Avoid shopping from a platform that saves your card details and use a continuous payment system.

Be vigilant of suspicious links

It can be difficult to get wise to cybercriminals. They insert suspicious links on websites, social media pages and everywhere where it is possible. Just one click, and the next thing you see is a message on your mobile phone that the money has been withdrawn from your account.

• Do not click the link if you are suspicious about it. You can report such links to Suspicious Email Reporting Services.
• Suspicious messages should not be replied to. Nowadays, cybercriminals can find you by having your little information.
• Do not believe a website or advertisement if it is too good to be true. Online loan scammers promote their products without fees and without credit checks. Beware of such false promises. They do not exist at all.

Keep your accounts secure

You may shop from several shopping platforms. Make sure that you have set different passwords for each of them and they are all strong. Many shopping platforms allow you to log in through your existing Google account or Facebook account. Even though you use the same email address, you should set a new password for shopping platforms. Make sure you do not save them. One of the drawbacks of using the same password is that cybercriminals can steal it to hack your other accounts.

• You should keep changing the passwords after every three months.
• If you receive a message that an attempt has been made to hack your account, you should immediately change all your passwords.
• Keep the passwords of social media accounts different.
• Turn on two-step verification to prevent hackers from logging into your accounts.

Read the small print

You do not bother to read the small print at the time of buying things online. You check the box that reads you agree to all terms and conditions and check out. Unfortunately, this sort of behaviour is problematic when you have to return the goods and seek a refund. All shopping platforms disclose their policy about shipping, refunds and returns on the terms and conditions page.

• Go to the terms and conditions page and read the shipping policy. Get to know how fast they can ship your product. Are there any extra fees to be paid to speed up the delivery?
• Read the refund policy. Your product should meet all terms and conditions to be approved for refund. Most of the time, companies disqualify your product for a refund thanks to your lack of knowledge.

The final word

Cybercriminals are evolving their methods of stealing money. Online shopping platforms are at their targets because people save their card details. Stop this habit and instead use cash payments. Make sure you shop from a safe website.

They must be protected. Do not be curious to click any suspicious link. If you use your credit card to make purchases, do not let your browser save details. Keep strong passwords and make sure they are not the same across the board.