On an online shopping binge? Get yourself that cute shirt or those sunglasses, but beware of unscrupulous sellers! Always take the following precautions for online shopping for a secure online shopping experience. These include, but aren’t
limited to, shopping only with reliable brands, keeping your antivirus up-to-date, reading privacy policies of sellers, and avoiding purchases from websites requiring private information. Also make sure to check whether the payment
URL is secure before entering or submitting any sensitive information.
Be careful who you trust
Shop only with reputable and reliable brands. That way, you not only ensure good quality products, but also a high amount of safety when you are transacting online.
Ensure that your transactions are secure
- Keep your anti-virus, anti-spyware spam filters, and secure firewall up-to-date.
- If an online retailer is requesting private data, avoid shopping with them.
- Before submitting your bank details or other sensitive information, check the following:
- If the address bar is visible, the URL should start with 'https://' ('s' for secured), rather that the usual 'http://' and there should be a padlock in the address bar. If these are missing, it means that your personal data
is not being encrypted prior to transmission; it could be stolen by other parties.
- If the address bar is not visible as in our Internet Banking website, look for a lock icon on the browser's status bar. You can check the level of encryption, expressed in bits, by hovering over the icon with your cursor.
- Understand privacy policies, so that you know how companies process and store your information.
