Be Careful Who You’re Shopping For

With the holiday shopping season just around the corner you want to make sure you’re buying gifts for your loved ones – not giving your information away to hackers to spend on themselves.  

Here are 10 online shopping safety tips:  

1. Make sure you’re buying from a real online address (www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, etc)
2. Access secure (https) shopping sites that protect your information
3. Stay safe using secure Wi-Fi
4. Update your browser, antivirus and operating system
5. Keep an eye on your bank account
6. Use antivirus protection for your PC
7. Do not purchase from spam or phishing emails
8. Keep a record of your transactions
9. Don’t give internet shops more private information than they need Hold on to your receipts and destroy them when not needed
10. Use a credit card, not a debit card  

Also, if you find a sale deal that seems too good to be true, it probably is.  Try to verify a similar sale through another vendor.