It’s that time of the year again. 75% of Americans plan to do at least half of their holiday shopping online this year, shows a new TransUnion 2019 Retail Survey.

It's Holiday Season for cyber-criminals too, but not the way you might think. They go into scam-overdrive mode. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the busiest on-line shopping days and the bad guys are planning to get rich with your money.

This may be a refresher from our previous NCSAM blogs, but it’s always worth refreshing cybersecurity steps, so here are 10 Quick Fraud Alert Tips to keep you safe.

  1. Never click on links in emails. If you want to shop at a site, enter that site address in your browser directly. There are thousands of fake sites that look almost identical to the real thing. Don't fall for evil-twin shopping sites.
  2. Don't open attachments with special offers. It's a classic scam. The offer should be in the email and you should be able to see it right away.
  3. Watch for malicious ads and pop-ups. Do not click on ads that sound too good to be true and ignore popups that might propose the "best deal ever".
  4. Beware of e-skimmers. Do you know that bad guys sometimes skim your credit card at gas stations or ATMs? The shopping website you order from might be infected with an "e-skimmer" and they steal your card data when you check out. You can prevent that by using PayPal or Amazon credit to pay.
  5. Use a credit card to buy stuff online if possible. If possible, DO NOT use a debit card to make online purchases, as it is a lot easier to recover from a compromised credit card than a debit card that is linked to your bank account. Use that debit card to take out cash only.
  6. Do not shop over a public Wi-Fi. You simply do not know if it's secure and who is listening. Only shop using a secure, trusted network and if you have no other way to shop, use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) which encrypts your traffic.
  7. Be very careful when you see a free offer during the holidays. There is an explosion of all kinds of survey fraud and gift card scams. If it seems too good to be true, it’s probably false.
  8. Do not re-use any of your passwords. Instead, use a password manager to create hard-to-break passwords. Re-using any password is literally an invitation to be compromised.
  9. Keep a close eye on your credit card and bank accounts. During this season, unexpected and strange charges might appear which could very well be the first sign your card or even your whole identity has been stolen. If you think you might have been scammed, stay calm and call your credit card company, nix that card and get a new one.
  10. Be especially suspicious of gift card scams. They can be a perfect holiday gift, but gift card scams are skyrocketing. Only buy gift cards from trusted sources.

neoRhino’s Security Awareness Team, certified IT consultants, and 24/7 helpdesk squad are here to help strengthen your online defenses. You can visit our homepage, see more about The War on CyberSecurity, or give us a call at (281) 779-4850, and we can manage your technology so you can manage your business.