Paying too Much? 3 Online Shopping Mistakes You Should Avoid

Online shopping is changing the way we do our shopping.
During the Thanksgiving weekend, consumers spent more than $6.5 billion shopping online, according to the Better Business Bureau. 31% of these sales were made by consumers using mobile devices.

The implications of this are visible. This year, most retailers are shutting down stores while many others have declared bankruptcy. Analysts expect more store closures and more bankruptcies.

With all this advancement in e-commerce, you would expect consumers to be aware of basic safety practices.
Wrong.

I recently came across a new report by the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) which surveyed internet users in the U.S, France, Germany, and U.K.

While all the findings were startling, one of them caught my eye. According to the report, half of the consumers in the three countries could not tell whether an e-commerce site was legitimate and safe.

The report corroborated what had been found by Barclays which found that transactions to illegal and illegitimate websites cost consumers an average of $1,100.

For example, Pandora is a large jewelry company in the United Kingdom. Its legitimate website is available here. But, there are tons of sites with the same name and branding that have defrauded thousands of customers to the tunes of millions of dollars.

So, here are a few ways to help you shop in legitimate e-commerce companies.

Counter Check the URL

A common strategy that online fraudsters use is to create a clone website with a similar name and URL. After doing this, they do two things. First, they optimize their website in search engines. Second, they create online ads on platforms like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. Finally, organically, they wait for unsuspecting visitors to visit their site.

After visiting the site, the customers place orders which the cybercriminals don’t deliver. Other sophisticated criminals take the customer’s credit card data and sell them in darknet.
Creating a clone site is not as difficult as you think. For example, you can create a website that looks like Etsy in seconds by buying a script for less than $300.

Compare the real Etsy site here with the cloning site here.
To stay safe, I recommend that you always countercheck the URL that you enter. Alternatively, if it is a famous website like Etsy, you can search for it on Google instead of entering the URL.

Check for the Security Key

Your preferred browser can tell you whether a website is secure or not.

After entering a website, on top of your browser and next to the URL, you will see a padlock sign that is usually green in color for secure sites. Most clones and unsecured websites do not have this security feature.

To get the security lock, companies spend money from companies like Verisign for certification. Costs are usually more than $300 per year, and most cybercriminals are not ready to pay such amount of money on certification.

Buy from Common Companies

Creating an e-commerce platform that seems legit is easy and cheap. To date, there are thousands of e-commerce site to chose from. But, I recommend that you use the common companies like Walmart, Amazon, eBay, and Wayfair.

When possible, I recommend that you download their mobile applications from legitimate app stores like Google Play Store and Apple’s app store. It is more challenging to find clones from these app stores.

Read Genuine Reviews

If you are not using one of the genuine top companies, before you do any shopping, I recommend that you read reviews about the company. These reviews should be from genuine review sites like BBB and Trusted Reviews.

Ensure that the site has many reviews that are spaced well. Since many clones pay people to review their sites, check the language used in the reviews and the time they were posted.
It is impossible for a company to have hundreds of positive of reviews in one day and no reviews since then.

If the Deal Seems too Good, Think Twice

Often, you will see a good deal being advertised on Facebook. Perhaps, a gorgeous dress is being sold for $5, an 80% discount. Or an iPhone X that is currently selling for $1,000 will be sold for under $200.

When you see such a deal, always think twice before buying. Cybercriminals use these tactics to fool people. They create an online ad selling things in high demand for an excellent price. They do this to attract impulse buyers who don’t think twice before shopping. Avoid them.

Cybercrime is a multi-billion-dollar industry in this country. In 2016, consumers in this country lost more than $30 billion to cybercriminals. By 2020, this is expected to reach $100 billion. One way to stay safe online is to ensure that you are shopping in legitimate sites. These strategies will help you achieve this.