Online shopping
What is online shopping
Online shopping can be a convenient way to find better deals, shop from the comfort of your home and find products that might not be available in local stores. For some people, online shopping is a necessity. There are risks when online shopping but you can protect yourself.
Risk of Fraud
If you're shopping online, there's a larger risk of fraud and this is a key concern for most people. Credit card scams, phishing, hacking, identity theft, counterfeit products, bogus websites, and other scams are common but you can minimise these risks by ensuring you use secure websites when submitting personal information.
Protecting yourself online shopping
Look out for the following things to help protect yourself from online fraud:
The address starting with ‘https’.
A padlock symbol in the URL bar at the top.
An up-to-date security certificate.
Ensure that the online shops you’re visiting are genuine - be on the lookout for ‘copycat’ sites.
Read online reviews of the site and avoid anything that seems too good to be true.
Other potential risks of online shopping and how to minimise them
Shipping problems
Most websites have a help section which will allow you to contact them to discuss any issues with shipping and for more expensive items you can usually select protected postage such as signed delivery.
Returning Items
Sometimes items need returning and it can be an easy or a complicated process. It’s always worth looking at return policies on the website before you place an order.