Right now online commerce is enjoying iron health. Not that it was insecure before, but the pandemic and social media have brought online commerce to life in a way we didn't expect. Now even the fortnightly grocery shopping we do it through the internet for something as simple as that it makes up for us to look on the web than to go to the supermarket.
Since online trading began, there have been fears of possible online scams or the loss of banking data if there is a leak. It is still a concern today, but luckily there are many helps and tips for buying online safely so that we have much less fear of it.
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Use PayPal as an intermediary
PayPal was born as the natural response to the fear of giving a credit card number to buy online. Today it is rare that a store does not accept PayPal, saving Amazon because it is not interested in you using it. It will always be better to use PayPal, protected by a unique and secure password and ensuring two-factor authentication with the mobile to minimize the risks of possible hacks.
How does PayPal help? Well, it does not directly give any card or bank account to the seller when we buy something, and it has a service to claim misuse and returns.
Check if the store is official and complies with the law
An easy way to check if a website can be one of many internet scams is to check the entire web. Does it seem made with a basic template? Does your legal section not include addresses or names of data processing? Do the logos of the payment card companies that prove that they use a legitimate payment system look good?
With the rise of dropshipping websites, which focus more on advertising on Instagram and Facebook while charging to order products from manufacturers, websites that try to scratch unsuspecting visits and sales have grown. They are not illegal, but it is not safe to give money to websites that only act as an automatic intermediary, without a warehouse or physical office.
Use disposable mails if you are not going to be a regular buyer
Have you seen an ideal gift from an online store but don't think you will buy there often? You can use a disposable email like those offered by 10MinuteMail to do a quick registration, and use a random password. You make the purchase and you forget about the account.
This has drawbacks such as that when the email account disappears, you will not receive notifications if the order has gone out, or send a claim from it. If we care about security and that our data is not filtered, it is safer to use an email that we will only use once.
Check the browser bar for safety
You should always try to make sure you are on the correct website. As soon as a website of offers or a store becomes popular, it is possible that purchase links are provided to websites that pretend to be a legitimate page. First of all, we must look at the browser bar in case it is in https, which is an indicator that all the information sent complies with the necessary security protocols and is encrypted.
To avoid falling into fake websites that pretend to be popular stores, try not to click on links that may come to you by mail because they may be phishing. Always write the page of the store you want to go to. If it is a bit popular, it will be easily indexed in Google instead of its imitators.
Be wary of overly juicy bargains
Do they sell you a top-of-the-range mobile at half its price? A PS5 for around € 300? Be suspicious because that offer cannot be very real. The very juicy bargain websites that they sell themselves are usually fake stores that compensate for the fact that out of thousands and thousands of visits, one is careless enough to give their bank information.
Bargain websites other than stores like Aliexpress or Amazon are not going to sell you anything themselves. They are usually websites with many referrals from which they get a commission for deriving sales. If you see that you are not redirected to a legitimate store, leave it because that offer does not exist.
