The FBI has issued advise to keep consumers safe during the online holiday shopping season. Some of the advise includes making sure the online company has a physical address and working phone number, be wary of special offers and more.
🎅🎄Avoid the Cyber Grinch! The FBI has issued a guideline for safe online shopping this holiday season. Follow these 12 rules to stay safe: https://t.co/w9szwqIyNc pic.twitter.com/cWaB0Xb42S
— Fordham Secure IT (@FordhamSecureIT) December 12, 2019
The shopping stampede has started for the holidays, and consumers are a little more educated than previous years about how to spot specials that are too good to be true. The trap in the form of fake websites, apps, or emails has been set by cybercriminals hoping to get the most out of the Holiday shoppers, especially those shopping on their mobile phones; the small screens make it harder to notice forgeries on a fake page. In fact, this year 65% of online shoppers think their holiday shopping plans will put them at higher risk of being targeted by fraudsters, according to a survey by Terbium Labs. Just having that awareness will make consumers more careful about what they click on while shopping. At the same time, it is important for consumers to make sure they are purchasing from the correct link and not a misspelled one, and that their purchase is secured by looking for the green padlock left of the URL. Merchants must be as careful as consumers, but they have some more technologies in their arsenal to fight fraud like passive biometrics and behavioral analytics that help them verify consumers by their online behavior instead of relying on credentials. Verifying users by their behavior instead of the credit card data or a password is a way to put the jingle and joy back into the holidays.