The year-end is just around the cor- ner, and with that, comes the plethora of sales from fashion houses and e-commerce websites trying to make our holiday season ready. The year-end clearance sales and discounts and customers looking to indulge in some retail therapy give scammers ample avenues to carry out their fraudu- lent activities. Here are five tips from Truecaller on how to stay protected against financial fraud during the year- end sales:
Be vigilant about suspicious logins and messages
Most shopping and e-commerce websites ask their users to create an account to access their collection or place orders. When creating an account, users have to provide an e-mail address or a phone number on which they receive updates on the latest offers, the orders they have placed, and exciting deals they can avail of
Only browse secure and authorised websites
One of the most common tactics being used by scammers to steal infor- mation is by providing a link to a web- site that looks similar to a secure and authorised website, with slight modifica- tions that are unnoticeable at first glance
Never share OTPs with others
To combat scammers from using the payment information of others, banks all over India have initiated a two-factor authentication model. While this has helped combat scams and misuse of financial information to a certain extent, it can still be exploited if a user shares their OTP with others. It is incredibly important to never share your One-time password with anyone and only use it if you are in the process of placing an order, and on a trusted website or app.
Don’t save your payment details on e-commerce web- sites for future use
While you may trust certain common- ly used websites or platforms, it is always advised to never save your pay- ment details, even if you plan to pur- chase products from them in the future. This is because if a site is compromised
in any way, saved cards and payment information can easily be exploited and accessed by those trying to gain access to mass information.
Only pick up calls from veri- fied e-commerce businesses or trusted numbers
Phone scams have been some of the most common tactics that scammers often employ because of the lack of security systems with regard to tele- phonic conversations. It is also impor- tant to make sure that you do not pick up calls from foreign registered num- bers or suspicious-looking numbers like the ones that start with digits other than 8or9.
Stayingqsafe whenr shopping online is important for your own personal and financial safety, and by adopting these practices, you can stay away from those who are trying to compromise millions of people every year.
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