Beware of online scams this holiday season

BROKEN BOW - While many of us are trying to spread good cheer this holiday season, scammers have a few other things in mind. This is the busiest time for on-line shopping and here are a few tips to help keep you safe while shopping online.

• Keep a close eye on your credit card and bank accounts. Watch for any unexpected and strange charges. If you think you there are any fraudulent charges on your account, stay calm and call your bank or credit card company. Shred your current card and have them send you a new one.

• Don’t blindly trust emails from retailers. Never click on links and open attachments in emails from sources you can’t verify. Offers should always be in plain sight in an email. Clicking on links may take you to a fake site that looks like the real one. Go directly to the site in your browser instead.

• Be diligent while browsing. Watch for ads and pop-ups that sound too good to be true. Most of these will take you to malicious sites instead of the “best deal ever.” Even “legitimate” free offers tend to sign you up for subscription services that you will be charged for.

• Be especially suspicious of gift card scams. They can be a perfect holiday gift, but gift card scams are skyrocketing. Buy gift cards only from trusted sources.

• Never shop over public wi-fi. You cannot know if these connections are secure and who is listening. Only shop using a secure, trusted networks. If you have no other way to shop, use a VPN to encrypt your traffic.

• Do not reuse passwords. Each online account you have should use a different hard-to-break password. Use a password manager to help create them and keep them straight. Reusing passwords is one of the quickest ways to be hacked.

• Beware of e-skimmers. Legitimate shopping websites may be infected with e-skimmers, which is a way for criminals to pull your personal information from the payment screen of a website. You can mitigate the risk by using well-known, reputable, online merchants. Always make sure the site has https on the payment screen.

• Be safe using your debit card online. Load your debit card as the default in mobile wallets, like PayPal or Google Pay to keep from entering your debit card information on multiple sites.

Contact your bank for advice on how to protect your personal information this holiday season.