Once upon a (quite recent) time, shopping used to be an extremely evocative, on-site experience. Go out, take a few mall selfies, try on hundreds of clothes for hours on end, and finally go with one or two out of the lot. The prerequisite of ‘touch and feel’ before making a purchase seemed unshakeable.
Well, turns out it’s been shaken up like how.
A recent Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report projected that over 69% of Indians plan to do more than half of their shopping online this holiday season.
Maybe percentages don’t give you a clear indication of this trend’s gargantuan nature, so let’s go with raw numbers – UPI conducts close to 400 million transactions daily, with the amount of total transactions recorded in the month of October surpassing 11 billion.
Such vast volume is one thing, but it hits a different stratosphere when you factor in monetary value. The same Norton study reported that 74% of Indians spend more than they can afford on tech gifts like tablets and smartphones. Because naturally, ground realities go for a toss when there’s a new iPhone on the market.
And inevitably, whenever there’s so much money involved, you can be sure that there are bad actors prowling about. 25% of online shoppers have been targeted by a scam, with half of them falling for it. In India, the average amount lost due to a scam exceeds 20k rupees. All this becomes even more heightened in the holiday season, with a 2022 Norton LifeLock poll reporting that over 62% of Indian consumers are likely to face online shopping scams during this time.
So, how do you go about identifying scams and ensuring a safe online shopping experience?
A Little Housekeeping
Okay, cool, that salary has been credited in your account and you’ve decided it’s time for a good splurge. We support it, but before you go about filling up that cart, let’s do a little housekeeping:
- Sounds basic, but if you’re using a smartphone, make sure you have screen locks in place, especially if you’re doing your shopping publicly.
- And if you’re using a laptop, make sure all your computer security software, like your antivirus programs and firewalls are completely updated before you move further.
- Okay, now that you’ve moved further, we recommend doing all your online shopping on a virtual private network, especially if you’re on a public network, for safe web browsing. Plus, lots of eCommerce sites tend to give location-relevant discounts in the holiday season, and you’ll be able to bypass those and get the best possible deals through the VPN.
Point of Entry
Now, when it comes to online shopping, some of you may be website people, others app people. Both options need their requisite due diligence before you delve further:
- All You Website People: Always check for sites that start with https, not http. The added ‘s’ ensures that there’s the safety of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption in your shopping journey. Another way to identify this is the lock next to the URL – you’ve definitely seen it before, but let’s jog your memory:
This icon should also be there on your payment page, not just on the home page. More on payments later.
- All You App People: Only download apps from the App Store or Play Store, and check out the reviews to confirm if it’s legit. Also, pay very close attention to the permissions the app asks for – asking for access to your contacts really shouldn’t be necessary to shop online.
Taking Account
Some platforms, especially if you’re an app person, will ask you to create an account before you start shopping. Fair enough, but here are some things to consider:
- Strong password tips are something we keep harping on about, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Be sure to use unique, complex passwords, or better yet, use a password manager. It’ll save details like your address as well, which will make future checkouts more streamlined.
- Often, you’ll find platforms asking for things like your birthday, mother’s name, maybe even your AADHAAR details. That’s a big red flag – all that’s really needed to shop online are your payment details and mailing address. In fact, if certain fields are optional, skip them. So many eCommerce platforms are getting breached these days (RentoMojo and Zivame, in recent times) so it’s important to never give more info than what’s needed.
Don’t Buy What the Hackers are Selling
Great, since all that’s done, you’re officially ready to start acting on your shopping wish list. Not to be a buzzkill, but we have a few words of caution about that as well:
- Always do your due diligence on the seller you’re planning to buy from. Obviously, make sure they have sufficient reviews, but go beyond that as well. If you see a bunch of 5 star reviews using similarly over-the-top language, something’s fishy here. Same goes for the product images – if they feel a tad stock photo-ish, better to avoid.
- Terms and conditions may seem like a complete chore to get through, but there are some things which demand your attention. At times during your online shopping journey, you’ll be faced with an expectation-vs.-reality disparity, so make sure you shop from a trusted site with a guaranteed return policy. Also, be meticulous while reading the shipping terms, like if they provide tracking & insurance. If it takes more than 10 days for an order to ship, that seems a bit sketchy.
- Most importantly, don’t go for deals that seem too good to be true. If a deal like ‘Buy 1, Get 4 Free’ sounds dubious at first glance, it most likely is.
You’re Gonna Pay For This!
Right, so you’ve gone to town with that cart, and it’s now time to pay up. This is the inflection point where your wishes meet tangible action, and this is the area where most fraudsters look to take advantage. Don’t give them the chance:
- Like we mentioned earlier, check if there’s an ‘s’ in your https. Furthermore, make sure the payment gateway is a trusted one. (These include PayU, Razorpay, PayPal, Instamojo, etc.)
- Use your credit card, if you have one. Better yet, use a virtual credit card. Should there be any chance of fraud in these transactions, you won’t end up losing any actual money.
- Once you’re done with the transaction, keep records of your receipt, the order number, etc. The story isn’t over till your desired item reaches you.
Let’s Maintain Order
Because along the way, there are many ways someone can manipulate the anticipation you have for your ordered items. There have been a lot of cases in recent times of cyber criminals impersonating FedEx employees in order to scam people. Here are some countermeasures:
- Never reveal your personal information, however hard they probe. Bear in mind, they’ll try calling you at irregular hours to catch you at your most vulnerable, so don’t give them a sniff.
- Don’t download any applications and click any links from people you don’t know. Doing so is a definite recipe for disaster.
And if you follow all these steps, you can be sure that the order will reach your home safe and sound. Happy shopping and have fun making your wishlist come to life!
