Shop Safely Online This Holiday Season

Capital One recently reported that American online spending totaled $1.24 trillion in 2023; projections indicate that online spending will exceed  $2.5 trillion in 2030. Online shopping represents  20.1% of all retail sales worldwide as of 2024; in the U.S., online shopping represents 15.6% of retail revenue.

The FTC tells us that people lost $10 billion to scams in 2023. One in four people reported losing money to scams, with a median loss of $500 per person. And email was the #1 contact method for scammers this year, especially when scammers pretended to be a business or government agency to steal money. If you are one of the majority that will shop online for the Holidays, you may receive emails or text messages about deals you can’t miss or opportunities to donate to unfamiliar charities. Unfortunately, during this season of giving, it’s crucial to stay alert for scammers. They often use tactics like sending links that can install malware on your device or creating fake online stores to trick you into making purchases. This can lead to the loss of your money or even your identity.

The good news is that you can take actions to help protect you, your family, friends, and business from these scams. Before making any online purchases, follow these steps to safeguard your devices, information, and accounts:

• Update your software to protect your devices against the latest threats.

• Use strong passwords—at least 16 characters long, random, and unique for each account.

• Utilize a password manager to generate, save, and fill in strong passwords automatically.

• Enable multifactor authentication (MFA) on any accounts that offer it.

Most successful cyberattacks begin with a phishing email, and scammers tend to escalate their schemes during the holiday shopping season. Here are some tips to help you avoid falling for phishing attempts:

• Be cautious of phishing messages—scammers are becoming increasingly good at impersonating legitimate retailers.

• Do not click on links or download attachments unless you are certain of the sender’s identity.

• Be wary of requests for personal information, such as confirming your delivery address.

• Report scams to your email provider and then delete the messages.

Specifically for the holiday season, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends purchasing with confidence by:

• Choosing reputable vendors that encrypt your information.

• Verifying a business’s legitimacy through web searches and reviews.

• Using credit cards instead of debit cards for greater protection against unauthorized charges.

• Frequently checking your accounts for any unauthorized charges.

The curious truth about technology is that it can be used to make our lives better or full of problems. Shopping online lets us shop and send gifts without leaving our home. Criminals seek to use technology to take advantage of our holiday spirit. Mark Twain saw the good and bad sides of technology in one of his most famous Christmas Wish.

He wrote “It is my heart-warmed and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage (every man and brother of us all throughout the whole earth), may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone.” —Mark Twain

May you have a wonderful Holiday Season! Best wishes from the Staff of Pure IT!