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Online shopping has become the norm. People want the convenience of clicking a button and having anything you want to appear at your door within mere days. In as few as two years, the annual online retail sales could reach $4.48 trillion internationally.

Unfortunately, there are many criminals who are eager to take advantage of online shoppers, especially during peak shopping seasons. From spam emails to fake sites, there are a lot of shopping threats that you have to contend with. This article will look at the biggest online shopping threats of 2019 and go over a few ways to keep yourself safe shopping online.

Email Threats

Knowing that companies usually send purchase confirmation emails and other shopping-related emails, cybercriminals use emails that look like they are authentic emails, but they aren’t. They also send phishing emails to try to trick you into handing over confidential information like credit card information. Generally, you do not want to click on links that are inside emails. Instead, either input the website directly into your address bar. If you suspect an email is a scam, run it through a scam checker, like Fraud Buster. If you still aren’t sure, call the company or customer service directly. They will be able to confirm whether or not they sent you an email.

Mobile Devices

Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices make ordering products online even easier. It’s really easy to search online catalogues while out and about. You can even use voice assistants like Alexa to buy products online just by saying a quick command. These mobile devices make shopping faster than ever, but they come with their own risks. One issue is we usually store personal identifiable information for convenience. For example, you may store your credit card info, address and email for Amazon so you don’t have to retype the info every time you make a purchase.

You have to be careful with personal identifiable information. This information can be used by criminals to gain access to your voice assistants or IoT (Internet of Things). This can happen without you even realizing it. By the time you notice suspicious activity, it’s probably too late. You also want to be careful when you are on your mobile device and browsing online shopping sites. You will see a lot of ads, promos and links. Some of these are harmless. Some can be dangerous. If you see anything that has an unknown source or just looks suspicious, just ignore it. There are a lot of spoof sites out there that can be harder to identify on mobile devices. Even going through a legitimate search engine like Google is a safe bet. If you have a shopping site that you visit a lot, your best options are to bookmark the website or download the mobile app for the store. Authentic apps will generally be safer than websites.

Social Media Scams

Online stores use social media to market their products and grow their revenues. Some businesses even use social media as their primary store. Criminals understand when people see products or stores on Facebook, they often google it and find the online store associated with a given marketing campaign. They also know how many people worldwide use social media sites. Criminals set up fake stores to trick customers into giving them confidential data. Sometimes, they make a duplicate site of a legitimate store for the same reason. They’ll even manufacture positive reviews for their fake stores to make themselves appear more authentic.

One thing you should always do is look for verifier symbols. Major stores and brands will have blue check marks beside their names on their social media pages. Also, keep an eye on your permissions. Generally, you want to keep the information you permit companies and social media sites to collect from you. You never know what they are going to use the information for, so it is smart to play it safe.

General Safety Tips

No matter what device or platform you are shopping on, there are plenty of things that you can do to keep yourself safer. First of all, avoid oversharing. We’re so used to giving people our email address and other info that it becomes second-nature.  But you don’t want to give private information to people or organizations unless you trust them 100%. When shopping online, you can add a layer of security by using a payment system, like Apple Pay.

Finally, it really helps to have a VPN service. A VPN conceals your IP addresses and redirects your online traffic through an encrypted tunnel. Using a VPN will make it much harder for people to track you or identify you. Shopping online with allow you to remain more anonymous and decrease the chances of you becoming a victim of a hacker or other cybercriminal. You can find the list of trusted free VPNs here.