Holiday shoppers planning to spend some time online during so-called Cyber Monday, the e-tail equivalent of brick-and-mortar stores’ Black Friday, are offered these guidelines by the Palm Beach Police Department for making safe purchases via the Internet,
Anyone planning to shop online should be aware that cyber criminals and scammers do exist and have developed many aggressive and creative techniques to steal money and personal information from Internet shoppers.
These include staging fraudulent auction sales of merchandise and stolen gift cards, shipping merchandise purchased with a stolen credit card and selling counterfeit brand-name items.
Here’s how to reduce the chances of getting scammed online:
Know who you are dealing with, confirming an online seller’s physical address and telephone number in case you have questions or problems.
Know what you are buying, closely reading a seller’s product description and any fine print and checking out the terms of the deal, such as refund and privacy policies and delivery date information.
Know what the total cost of any item purchased will be, including shipping, handling and any other charges.
Pay by credit card only, not by debit card, and make certain the payment site is secure, safe and legitimate.
Keep passwords safe and do not share them with any other people.
Print and/or save electronic records of online transactions.
Do not respond to unsolicited or spam e-mails and do not click to links contained in them.
Log in directly to the website of a business identified in an e-mailed offer instead of linking to it from an unsolicited e-mail.
If an e-mail appears to be from a financial institution, credit card issuer or other company you deal with frequently, contact the business that sent the e-mail to verify that it is genuine.
If requested to act quickly or that there is some kind of emergency involved with a transaction or e-mail request, it may be a scam, as fraudsters often try to create a sense of urgency to get you to act impulsively.
Only purchase gift cards directly from merchants or via their authorized websites.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
These rules apply to online purchases made at any time, but especially during the holiday shopping period.
If you are a Palm Beach resident and believe you have been a victim of a cyber crime, you should contact the Police Department at 838-5454.