From Black Friday to Christmas – fake internet stores become more active

How to shop more safely and avoid any consumer fraud?

As Christmas approach the number of fraud attempts also increases along with the online purchases. Imitating the reliable and real e-stores, the buyers are attracted by very tempting offers, for example, discounts by at least 80% or that only the delivery fee will have to be paid. Thus the credit card information and even money is cheated out of the potential buyers. Approximately four fifth of Latvian residents have used the services¹ of the Internet stores, that is why it is important to know, how to secure yourself from the scams.

“Christmas shopping season is an active time not only for real businesses, but also for scammers. Nowadays it is very easy to create a platform that looks reliable and real; one does not need high level specific knowledge. Moreover, there is a tendency that the scammers do not even create their separate websites, instead they use the platforms of the social media to attract buyers with generous discounts. That is why, it is important for those who are looking for the best online deals, to be cautious in every step of a purchase and assess critically the online stores, which are created recently or used rarely. Particular attention shall be paid when the buyers are attracted with huge discounts, for example, if a smart device is sold for 100 EUR only in one e-store, while the average market price for such a device in other stores reaches 600 EUR,” Luminor information security expert Līga Bārdiņa explains, why one has to be especially cautious, while shopping online.

There are several signs, which may cause suspicions that the store is not reliable and, probably, if shopping there, one may lose money and never receive the desired item, which is why shopping there should be considered very carefully.

How to recognize the online stores that are created just to cheat out money?

1. Huge discounts are offered, it looks “too good to be true".
2. The Internet site does not operate properly; other links cannot be opened, the “buttons” do not work.
3. Contact information is incomplete or missing at all.
4. The internet address of the store has been registered recently - you can check the creation date
5. The link to the online store is unexpectedly sent by a friend or an acquaintance with a text, which is not typical to your everyday communication.
6. There is no information on the store elsewhere, it seems unreliable.

Shopping in an unknown online store, it is not enough just to verify one safety aspect whether the store is real. The scammers have learned to publish convincing safety certificates verified by Visa and Mastercard SecureCode and eliminate other obvious signs that may be indicative of fraudulent websites and it is really difficult to see the difference. Therefore, prior to shopping in an unknown store it is vitally to research the information as much as possible and to consider critically if you may or may not rely on this store.

The fraudulent stores with a purpose to cheat out money exist throughout the year, but they become particularly active right before Christmas. The buyers try to purchase presents as quickly as possible and spending less, but being in a hurry, they are less conscious against scams.

 “If you have any suspicions that you have transferred money to a scammer or have provided your credit card data to unreliable seller, immediately inform the Bank and the Police. A general suggestion, how to always secure yourself, is to open a separate payment card just for the online purchases and to transfer there only the amount necessary for the specific purchase. Then the criminals will not be able to cause you substantial losses, for example, by obtaining your credit card information and withdrawing money from it repeatedly, as the victim does not notice it initially. Luminor experience shows that average losses for buying items at a store, which even does not exist, is approximately 100 EUR", emphasizes Luminor information security expert Līga Bārdiņa.