ARTICLE – ABCOMM
Online shopping: tips to ensure your safety and avoid fraud
When shopping online, you need to provide personal and financial information. Websites without encryption or with weak security can expose this information to hackers and put users’ integrity at risk. See tips for shopping safely and avoiding scams.
1. Company reputation
It is essential to check the company’s reputation. Use tools such as Reclame Aqui and social medias to search for possible complaints about the store. By typing the company’s name into search engines, you can get an overview of its reliability.
2. Seemingly unmissable offers
Be wary of overly generous offers. Extremely high discounts, especially when combined with payment options such as bank transfer, invoice or Pix, are a warning sign. Fraudulent websites usually offer products at prices much lower than those on the market. And misleading pages often have low-quality layouts, with inconsistent images, texts and colors.
3. Website security
Before entering personal or credit card information, check whether the online store is encrypted by looking for the closed padlock icon in the upper left corner of the screen. The icon indicates that the website is secure. For greater security, use virtual credit cards offered by banks.
4. Security indicator combo
Have prior knowledge about the company, analyze the positive experiences of other consumers on social media, see if there is a low number of complaints and check whether the CNPJ registration status is normal with the Receita Federal.
Source: Eletrolar News Ed. 162
