5 Tips To Secure Online Shopping This President’s Day

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Making a purchase online around Presidents day? Keep in mind criminals are working hard to intercept your credit card numbers in various way.

#1 SCAM: Black-Hat SEO: Criminals create fake websites and then use the same techniques as legitimate online businesses regarding search engine optimization, marketing, and online advertising via Google AdWords. They use keywords to boost rankings on Internet searches, causing their spoofed websites to appear alongside legitimate websites. These same processes are also used to infect unsuspecting users with malware.

SOLUTION: Do business with known sites. Use the exiting e-tailers you’ve done business with. Otherwise install a “SiteAdvisor” that scans websites looking for malware.

#2 SCAM Phishing: emails offering high-end products for low prices. The same applies to any offers received through tweets, or messages sent within social media.

SOLUTION: Common sense says that whenever you receive an unsolicited email offer, you ought to automatically be suspicious. Delete.

# 3. SCAM: Domain squatting: When what looks like a trusted website sends you an email looking like a familiar domain, beware of cybersquatting and typosquatting, in which the address only resembles the legitimate domain, but is a trap.

SOLUTION: Make sure you’ve been taken to the correct URL for the retailer.

#4 SCAM: Unsecured sites. Scammers generally don’t take the time to create secure websites.

SOLUTION: When placing an order online, always look for “https://” in the address bar, signifying that a page is secure. Note that an image of a closed padlock also indicates that a website is secure.

5. SCAM: eBay email scammers. It’s difficult to tell a real eBay email offer from a fake one.

SOLUTION: If you are seeking deals on eBay, go directly to the site itself, and don’t bother responding to emails. If a deal in an email is legitimate, you can find it by searching eBay.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist toHome Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.