Stay safe, shop smart when using online platforms this Black Friday

It’s Black Friday, you have decided to skip the queues and rather shop from the comfort of your desk while eating popcorn and watching videos of the chaos as stores open their doors to hordes of shoppers.

At your fingertips, you now have access to thousands of Black Friday deals and, all you need to get exactly what you want for next to nothing is a bank card and an internet connection – simple, but with this ease comes a whole new variety of threats you may not have considered.

The methods used by cyber-criminals are growing and changing by the day.

Some of the most common methods of defrauding shoppers currently include: fake websites, phishing emails with malicious links, particularly with offers that sound too good to be true at this time of year; pop up adverts purporting to be genuine ads; fake items for sale on genuine sites and ‘sniffing’ for passwords and payment details over unsecured Wi-Fi.

It is vital to ensure that the website you are browsing is legitimate and not a knock-off of an actual retailer.

The key here is to check out the website domain name – easily found in your search bar. For example, website domains like www.bythoseshoes.org should send you running.

Why, you ask? The ‘.org’ part gave it away. Stick with (if you are buying in South Africa) ‘.co.za’.

Don’t pay by EFT (electronic transfer) – ever.

Any legitimate online shopping platform offers payment options through popular methods such as ‘MyGate’ in which you enter details such as your card number, the expiry date, your name and surname and CVV Number.

Upon completing the details, processing will take place in which your bank should send you an OTP (one-time pin) via SMS or even email.

Check out the rest of the website before buying what you came for.

It may be Black Friday but if it looks way too good to be true, it just might be.

Global cyber-security company Kaspersky advises shoppers to follow these 12 tips this Black Friday period:

1. Secure all your devices using trusted security software.

2. Make sure you apply security updates to your operating system and applications as soon as they are available.

3. Only use secure sites. Look for a URL beginning with ‘HTTPS://’ – that’s ‘S’ for SECURE. Look also for a closed padlock on the web browser’s address bar – by clicking or double-clicking on it you will be able to see details of the site’s security.

4. Use a unique password for every online site – use a mixture of letters, numbers and special characters and make sure they’re at least 15 characters long.

5. Don’t click on random links in e-mails – it’s better to type in a URL yourself, to avoid the risk of ending up on a phishing site. If a deal seems too good to resist, go directly to the website to find it, rather than click on the link, to be sure.

6. Try to stick to familiar sites that you know or have heard of. But even then, you need to take care – criminals often deliberately misspell the name of their fake websites to make it look like a familiar site.

7. If you do buy from a new vendor, research it carefully. A good test is to see if they can be contacted if the order goes wrong – look for an e-mail, a phone number, an address and a returns policy. A vendor’s feedback history is another good sign of their honesty and reliability.

8. Use extra caution when using your mobile device for online purchases. Shortened URLs, often used because they are phone-friendly, can hide the fact that they lead to a risky site. If you have to make a transaction then and there, switch Wi-Fi off and use mobile data. Otherwise wait until you are back on a secured connection.

9. Avoid using un-trusted public Wi-Fi hotspots for confidential transactions like online shopping – public Wi-Fi networks are common places for hackers to sneakily intercept your information.

10. Ensure that your children do not have access to your online accounts, and make sure they can’t access your credit card and bank information.

11. Backup your data regularly to avoid your personal files being lost if you are the target of a cyber-attack.

12. Check your accounts regularly to make sure you notice any unusual/fraudulent activity straight away.

Download The North Coast Courier mobile app, now available free from the Apple iStore and on Google Play, for IOS and Android phones.