“If something seems like it’s too good to be true, the odds are it probably is.”
Joel Baynton with Grid Force Solutions in Lloydminster adds it doesn’t hurt to pick up the phone and call the business to verify details.
His advice comes as people will be increasing their online shopping with numerous deals available for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The computer technician cautions that when people are checking out with their online cart, the website does not need to have your social security number or your birth date. He says to stick to reputable sites.
“The bigger website names are much more safe and usually companies that you are actually familiar with. Those are usually more secure and safer to be using your credit card on. As you’re browsing the web, be looking for websites that have the little lock symbol right beside the URL, just indicating that it’s a secure site.”
Baynton adds that people also need to have updated software and especially anti-virus on their devices.
“If you’re starting to suspect you’re getting a lot of weird pop-ups, or starting to have weird programs showing up on your computer, it’s probably time to go and get that checked and may be do a virus scan on it and look for malware or adware on there.”
Baynton says those are telltale signs. While it may not be malicious, it could be affecting the performance of your device. He stresses the importance of software updates for devices as these offer security patches to fix loopholes that have been identified by the manufacturer.
He sees all of these combined measures as being important to keep consumers safe as they shop online.