Photo: Retail News Asia
Technology has taken over almost every single aspect of our lives.
Be it shopping, banking, or socialising, most things can now be done online.
According to a recent e-commerce Consumer Survey by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), 51.2% of Malaysians shop and sell online. We know you do too - and some of us even mindlessly scroll through without the intention of buying anything.
A Kaspersky researcher added that in the hurry to get a big discount or a limited time offer, there are many who become careless and lose all sense of vigilance.
Taking advantage of this, fraudsters have set up websites for nefarious purposes like identity theft and credit card fraud. The news has been rife with such cases, and Kaspersky has come up with some handy tips to prevent more issues like that from happening.
Some of the ways to identify real or fake stores are to avoid stores registered on free hosting services. Another method is to properly check the URL of pages with forms requesting confidential information. Web addresses with meaningless characters or suspicious links are more than likely to be malicious. Stay alert! When you are shopping online and the website looks fishy, check WHOIS for more information. Remember, an educated shopper is a smart shopper.
Other than identifying the authenticity of a store, there are also a number of tips we should practice for added protection. Having a special card only for online purchases that only has small amounts of money and staying away from clicking on links to shopping sites sent in emails, social media messages, chat rooms, and advertising banners on suspicious sites is a pretty straightforward way of staying safe. On top of that, shoppers are advised to avoid shopping via public Wi-Fi hotspots (and to use VPN if there is no other choice). Should the site look secure and safe, double check that the URL contains a “https” and/or a green padlock! Making use of a reliable anti-phishing security solution will seal the deal - fraudsters shouldn’t be able to get you easily now.
“With the long break which we can spend with our family and friends to travel and relax, this holiday season is undoubtedly the most wonderful time of the year. Let us keep it that way by keeping our guards up as we enjoy this season. It is the time where shopping online increases and posting on social media is on the rise. It is also worth noting that a lot of employees may be travelling with their corporate laptops and mobile phones, working remotely to avoid work emails from piling up. These mean additional opportunities for cybercriminals to wage their own holiday campaigns. We encourage everyone to practice basic good online habits throughout this break to keep these crooks out of their way,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky’s Global Privacy Report 2018 found that 39.2% of respondents reported being willing to sacrifice private data for additional safety like security checks or surveillance. At the same time, 22% said they share their social media details to find out the results of fun quizzes (which is often a way of simply getting your personal information!).
“We continue to advocate for keeping good digital hygiene. It’s one of the basic ways we can stop our confidential data from falling into the wrong hands,” added Yeo.
By: Celestine Foo
