How to Avoid Online Shopping Scams
Today, cybersecurity remains one of the biggest challenges driven by digitization. While it’s simple to assume that data breaches only harm big firms, small and medium-sized enterprises are also at risk. In this report, eKomi discusses some of the best strategies to keep your cool and avoid falling victim to online shopping scams.
Understanding Online Shopping Scams
A scam is any deceptive or misleading act or operation. Online shopping scams are fraudulent activities that use deceptive methods to trick consumers into making unauthorized purchases or revealing personal information. While the tide of e-commerce continues rising for all brands and sectors, scammers are emerging alike.
Even though many of us benefit from online buying, millions of people, however, become victims of cyberattacks every year. Cybersecurity is a major concern for online shopping, with threats such as phishing, malware, man-in-the-middle attacks, and DDoS attacks. Most scammers, pretend to be a legitimate online seller by posting fake websites and fake advertisements on genuine shopping sites. Examples of scams include:
- Phishing scams
- Counterfeit goods
- Fake online stores
- Advance fee fraud
- Non-delivery of goods
How to Deal with Online Scams
While there are many good online shops, unfortunately, scammers can take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to scam unsuspecting customers. Therefore, in order to steer clear of an online scam, various trusted, and authentic ways needs to be considered as verification tools to validate if the online platform is legit. Consumers can protect themselves by:
- Verifying the website’s security and checking for SSL certificates.
- Not clicking on suspicious links or downloading from unknown sources.
- Using secure payment methods such as credit cards with fraud protection.
- Keeping personal information private and avoiding giving out sensitive information.
- Checking for reviews and feedback from other customers.
Caution needs to be exercised when assessing online reviews. There are instances where some reviews are too short or contain little or no detail. Additionally, some websites collect their own reviews and in most cases, these reviews are more self-praise and a handful of reviews that convey a positive image of a brand, services, and products.
The Bottom Line: Customer Reviews
In any case, third-party survey companies are the perfect way to truly confirm a legit online store. Google, suggests certified, and bona fide parties that it has collaborated with and qualified to collect authentic reviews. Companies like, eKomi offers a special stage where shoppers can share their encounters, and communicate their unquestionable encounters to one another. This means that all reviews received are legal, and there’s a way of resolving complaints, etc.
All reviews are proved by real human beings before being brought out on the business trusted pages like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Facebook. Therefore, a legit site should have transparent company ratings to collect and manage reviews.
Wrapping Up
In short, if someone has been scammed, they will definitely expose details about such scheme, hence putting it out to warn others by posting a negative review. Conversely, satisfied customers can leave positive reviews. Sometimes it’s easier to find scams than you think, a simple search is all you need. We recommend using customer reviews to trust your gut and make the right decisions.