Tips for safe shopping online

Words by Ren Alcantara

For various reasons, not the least of which is the need to stay home because of the pandemic, making purchases online has become almost exclusively how many of us shop. This is great because it helps smaller businesses stay afloat and keeps buyers from having to expose themselves to the virus. There are, however, some things we should keep in mind when shopping online, so we aren’t just trading one set of risks for another. Many people are out there trying to pull a fast one on anyone they can, so be careful and keep yourself from being one of their victims.

Lots of local financial services offer prepaid cards that work in place of credit cards for making purchases. They come with their card numbers, can be tied to your name, and are reusable, but come with a crucial difference. Unlike actual credit cards that are funded by banks whom you have to pay back at a later date, or debit cards that are directly tied to your bank accounts, prepaid cards need to have money loaded onto them before they can be used. Since you still have to transfer funds from your account, this doesn’t give you any free money (nothing does). It does, however, serve as a buffer between your purchase and your main account. If you were unfortunate enough to have your credit card compromised, whoever did it could rack up quite a bill. Worse, if someone got access to your debit card, they could empty your account. The prepaid option means whoever uses it can only spend as much as is available in the prepaid account, not a centavo more.

This also has the added benefit of being another check for you to go through before making a purchase. Financial responsibility and only making purchases you need and can afford rests in your hands, but this can be a helpful thing for some.

If it’s available, use the app of the service you’re shopping on to make the purchase. This is not to say that their websites are unsafe; they’re some of the more secure places you can go online. It’s just that with the app, you’re a little more certain that you haven’t (or aren’t going to be) redirected to a phishing page by some cybercriminal trying to make a quick buck. If we can’t compel you to do that, at least make certain you have the correct URL in your browser when you go on a shopping spree.

We admit it’s significantly easier to browse on websites, but a way to get around that is to browse on your desktop and finish the purchase on the app. You can’t be too safe with your payment information. CoD is also an option if the vendor allows it.

Wherever you shop, whether it’s on Soc Med, a Viber group, or online shopping service, be wary of the deals. This is an age-old warning that thanks to the anonymity of the web, holds true now more than ever: If the deal is too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. You’re parting with your hard-earned money, so do yourself a favor and compare prices, check reviews, and get informed. Scams don’t have to be high-tech phishing, skimming, or website hijacking. Sometimes it’s as simple as a bait-and-switch. It is getting harder and harder to tell what’s going on, but if you take your time, don’t get overwhelmed by excitement, and out in your due diligence, you’ll get what it is you’re looking for without getting scammed a few times first.

This one should be obvious. Lots of platforms have options to review the sellers of particular items, so give that a look. While you’re there, beware of planted reviews. Those can be a bit hard to spot but trust your gut. If reviews look copy-pasted, or a lot of reviews are repeated verbatim, maybe check out other places. Try to avoid confirmation bias--look at the most negative reviews, and see if the seller is responsive to queries. You are, after all, going to be giving them your money.

This should go without saying, but don’t go using your credit card at unsecured locations. If you’re on public WiFi, forget about it. Basically, unless you trust whoever you’re getting a connection from with your account info, maybe save the shopping for when you’re at home. It might not be the most common cybercrime, but packet sniffng or gathering info that goes through a network can happen, and if you’re unlucky enough to have your transaction sniffed out, your card might get compromised.

Because of the pandemic, it might be in your best interest to have the item delivered. This, of course, isn’t a problem for the big online sellers who rely more or less solely on delivery, but if delivery can be arranged for smaller vendors or when buying secondhand items, go that route. The extra hundred or so bucks is more than worth staying at home and keeping from possibly worsening the pandemic.