Mother’s Day. A time to order her some flowers, book a trip to the spa, buy some fine custom jewelry …
And maybe fall prey to a scam.
All those purchases and a lot of others are catnip to online shopping thieves trolling for consumers’ personal information so they can have their own special day, says the Better Business Bureau of Central Georgia.
Holiday shopping periods are always popular among computer criminals whose own mothers ought to be ashamed.
The BBB urges caution, and offers some tips:
First, “Look for signs that online purchases are secure. At the point that you are providing your payment information, the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating that the information is being encrypted – turned into code that can only be read by the seller. Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes. Without this assurance, do not enter any of your personal information.”
Second, “Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen. When you visit a company’s Web site, an unauthorized pop-up screen created by an identity thief could appear, with blanks for you to provide your personal information. Legitimate companies don’t ask for personal information via pop-up screens. Install pop-up blocking software to avoid this type of scam.”
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