Shoppers have been warned ahead of the busiest online shopping periods of the year.
Lloyds Bank issued an urgent warning to Christmas shoppers to be wary of fraudsters this festive season. The warning comes as research from the bank revealed that the number of online shopping scams increased by 20% in December last year, compared to December 2020.
Sam Whillance, an expert at online e-commerce platform Deal.Town, shares six red flags shoppers should be aware of before purchasing presents this Christmas.
1. Steer clear of deals that seem too good to be true
If a website appears to be selling designer clothes or jewellery or electronics for considerably less than the usual retail price, always consider whether this is too good to be true.
Often, you could be purchasing fakes or replicas.
2. Look for a privacy policy
A privacy policy, normally in a statement format, explains how the business collects, uses, and stores sensitive data from its customers.
Whist laws and regulations worldwide vary, legitimate, reputable online retailers should have a clear privacy statement and if they don’t, this could be a red flag.
3. Check the SSL certificate
SSL, standing for ‘Secure Sockets Layer’, is an indication that a website is secure for shopping.
In other words, it is an encryption method that websites asking for sensitive or personal information, such as your credit card details, should have.
To ensure that a shopping website has an up-to-date SSL certificate, look out for a padlock icon in the URL bar of your web browser. Or alternatively, check that the URL starts with HTTPS, not HTTP (the S stands for ‘secure’).
4. Check if the website accepts credit cards
Credit cards are one of the safest methods for making online transactions. This is because its easier for credit card issuers to refund money lost to fraud.
Websites that don’t accept credit card payments could be warning signal, as it is a lot more difficult for fraudulent websites to become certified by credit card companies.
5. Watch out for spelling and grammar mistakes
Legitimate brands will have the professionalism and accuracy to ensure the text and imagery on their websites are correct.
If a website is poorly written and contains numerous spelling or grammatical mistakes, it could indicate that the seller is not genuine.
Other red flags may include low-quality images, the inability to leave reviews, and no returns policy.
6. Look for a phone number and address
The majority of legitimate retailers will have a contact number and an address visible in either the header or footer of their website.
If you aren’t 100% sure whether an online shop is genuine, copy and paste their address and phone number into a Google search engine, to see if their details are verifiable.
Fake sellers will either not provide any address or use a fake one.
