It pays to be cautious during the most wonderful time of the year.
You won’t need reminding that Christmas is nearly upon us, but of more immediate concern to online shoppers ahead of the festive season are the deals they might avail of on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the coming days.
On Tuesday, An Garda Síochána, in association with the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland and Retail Excellence launched the S.O.S. (Safe Online Shopping) campaign, which is seeking to remind the public and retailers to shop and sell on line safely and to make every effort to protect their financial and personal details.
With that in mind, Detective Superintendent Michael Gubbins of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau advised online consumers to follow the ‘12 Golden Rules of Safe Online Shopping’ to avoid cybercrimes that help fund the activities of online criminal gangs.
DOs
- Only buy from trusted sources, shops or brands that you are familiar with
- Use credit cards when purchasing things online
- Make sure the data transfer is appropriately protected. Look for the padlock symbol Think twice before allowing e-merchant stores to store your payment details
- Be aware how to control the recurring charge if paying for a continuous service online
- Always save all documents related to your online purchases.
DON’Ts
- If you are not buying a specific product or service, don’t submit your card details
- Avoid doing your online shopping at sites that don’t use full authentication
- Never send your Card number, PIN or any other card information to anyone by email
- When purchasing something online from another person, do not send money up front
- Never send your card details in an unencrypted email
- Don’t send money to anyone you don’t know online
Consumers were also advised to do the following to guard against fraudulent transactions online:
- Regularly check statements and transactions for any frauds or suspicious activity
- If you have a suspicion about an online transaction check your account online to ascertain if the payment was made to the genuine retailer.
- Report suspicious transactions to your local Garda station and to your bank or card processor.
Refreshingly, a recent CSO household survey found that 79% of Irish people who made purchases online did not experience any problems, whereas only 2% reported fraudulent activity.
In a small number of cases, however, difficulties do arise and fraud results in users losing money or having their credit/debit card details being compromised.
For more advice and information on online shopping, check out the resources below.
www.europol.europa.eu – for advice on crime and golden rules of safe online shopping
www.garda.ie – for crime prevention advice and contact details of local Garda Stations
www.FraudSMART.ie – for advice of fraud prevention
www.retail.excellence.ie – for advice for retailers
https://thecai.ie/your-rights – Consumer Association of Ireland
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