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Focus On: Safe On-Line Shopping
November is here and that means a very important day is fast approaching. No, it's not Thanksgiving, but Cyber Monday (November 29th), which will be here before you know it! For many of us, it's much easier to buy those gifts while sitting at our computer. However, for this type of shopping excursion, you need to be sure that you are making purchases from trustworthy and reliable internet retailers. Here are some tips to keep you safe while you are shopping on-line.
· It's always best to buy from reputable companies that you know. Although, a smaller company you may not have heard of might have a better deal. Make sure that deal is all it's cracked up to be by checking out buysafeshopping.com. BuySAFE bonds qualified merchants after a complete screening process, so you can find out if it's a company you want to do business with.
· If you do go with an unknown merchant, you will want to contact someone at the company that can confirm the organization's privacy policy. If there's no phone number or e-mail address, that's a red flag. If you can't talk to someone in person, don't take the chance because anyone can set up a voicemail. · Before you give your credit card number be sure to look for the "plural URL" when you go to the site's checkout page. The "http" should change to "https" and a closed padlock or key should appear on the page. This lets you know that your personal information will be encrypted or scrambled. Without these, it may not be a secure server. Also, if you ever see numbers at the beginning of the URL, it's probably a scam. · When making purchases on-line, don't use shared computers at a computer center. Hackers can attach a device that looks like a harmless adapter, but, actually, it will capture all your personal information. · Never respond to emails asking you to "confirm" recent transactions after you have bought something on-line. These are phishing scams that, coincidentally, are sent around when people are shopping the most - during the holidays. Does the idea of shopping, whether it's on-line or in line, sound very unappealing to you? To make the experience much more enjoyable, contact GoodDeeds. We can handle all your holiday shopping needs from generating gift ideas and making all the purchases, to wrapping and, even, shipping everything, too. With GoodDeeds, your holiday shopping will be wrapped up in no time!
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