Consumers warned against risky Christmas gift purchases

One in eight consumers would accept discounts and special offers from retailers in exchange for their passwords, the Centrify 2016 Online Shopping Survey has found.

Given the risks that consumers are willing to take to help them save money online, Centrify has developed a safety checklist to assist shoppers in protecting their personal information. It is also urging them not to compromise on cybersecurity when they purchase Christmas gifts online this year.

According to Centrify Senior Director APAC Sales Niall King, shoppers should put their online safety first rather than trying to save a few dollars from their Christmas shopping list.

“Nearly 14% admitted they share passwords with friends and family so they can login to their accounts,” he said.

“Other problems with password hygiene include more than 50% reporting they save passwords to the retailer’s websites so as not to forget them. More than half also admitted they sometimes re-use the same password for different retailers’ websites.”

This is particularly concerning given that the Australian Payments Clearing Association has reported that ‘card not present’ fraud — typically where credit cards are used for online purchases — increased by 21% this year.

Centrify has provided the below 10 tips to protect consumers when shopping online:

1. Resist temptation: Deals that look too good to be true should be treated with scepticism.
2. Secure your mobile phone with a password and encryption if it will be used for shopping.
3. Always buy from reputable retailers and enter web addresses carefully. A misspelled domain name or non-‘https’ site could lead to a false site designed to steal personal details.
4. Suspect links in unsolicited emails: Always type hyperlinks directly into a browser rather than clicking on them within the email. Hovering the cursor over a hyperlink should reveal whether the embedded link differs from its displayed text.
5. Reject requests by online retailers for extra personal information, such as a password for email or bank account details as part of the shopping process.
6. Use unique, complex passwords (or passphrases) for each site. Using the same password for multiple sites assists hackers in accessing personal details.
7. Keep your passwords private: Passwords lose their power if they are shared, so never give out passwords online, on the phone or even to friends or family.
8. Do not store passwords. Many browsers, programs or web applications offer to store passwords for convenience. This is a bad idea, especially for passwords associated with personal or financial accounts on public or shared computers.
9. Enable multifactor authentication where possible. This involves combining two or more different ‘factors’ for extra security when logging in, for example, requiring both a password and a fingerprint or retina scan.
10. Consumers are also encouraged to review each site’s privacy policy to learn how and where their personal information is being used. They should treat a missing or buried privacy policy as a red flag against using that site.

Image credit: ©Olly/Dollar Photo Club