Cyber Monday shopping deals come with a caveat: along with savings comes a maze of scams and deception.
According to the Better Business Bureau, more than $100 billion will be spent online Monday.
And worse off, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Cyber Security Analyst Abigail Showman says scammers are getting more creative and tougher to sniff out.
“What scammers like to do especially in the holidays is put some kind of malware online,” Showman tells WOKV. “Even if you don’t go to a website that has some kind of compromise on it, they can trick you into clicking on some kind of link that looks like an ad. If it’s too good to be true it probably is.”
Even without visiting a website, scammers will try to get you to click on phony ads, leading you to sites that can give you malware and steal sensitive information. These will also pop up in your email box, in the form of online retailer deals like Amazon.com or from delivery services.
Northeast Florida BBB President Tom Stephens recommends online shoppers check websites with whois.com, which will tell you when the website domain was registered.
When actually going through with a purchase, Stephens and Showman both recommend only using a credit card, because it’s much more difficult to return money to your checking account from a debit purchase.
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