Keep Black Friday & Cyber Monday Exciting, Not Stressful
Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping sprees have become as much of a tradition as the Thanksgiving holiday feast itself. From favorite stores to new online discount stores, everyone is offering shoppers a deal of the year. But in all the excitement, it often become easy to lose track of how and where your information is being shared; sometimes leading to being scammed or becoming a victim of identity theft. Here at Skytech, we have highly trained professionals who are helping with the modernization of many of these online purchasing platforms. Below are our top 3 holiday online deal purchasing tips.
Secure Your Network: While this may seem like a common cyber security sense this day in age, it is still important to make sure that your network is up to date. As friends, family, and acquaintances come to your home to celebrate and vice versa, this leaves vulnerabilities open for those you may not know very well to access your personal information. Our professionals recommend making sure your network is up to date, your passwords to your network are secure (unique to you and do not contain your names, family names, or dates of birth), and you don't share your password with anyone you don't know or trust.
Check Your Accounts Daily: This may seem tedious and many of us are guilty of just trusting the money we think should be in our account is there. But the best way to head off unwanted charging fees and prevent excess of account funds theft, is to make sure all of your purchases are accounted for. Some experts recommend using credit cards for online payments over debit cards, as the limit amounts are more stringent and credit cards have open communication lines to report theft and fraud when banks are normally closed. However, no matter what type of card is used, always check your accounts daily, and report any suspicious activity right away!
Watch for Scammers: The art of scamming has greatly evolved in the last decade. Now instead of simply watching where you swipe your card, you need to be aware of every ad and website you visit. Scammers are collecting information from social media ads and messages, fake websites, pop ups and ads on trusted websites, and through emails. Remember, if anyone asks for information that is unreasonable, including your date of birth or social security number, you do not need these to purchase items online. Stick with trusted websites, and if anything at all seems odd or you question it, report this to the website service.
We hope these tips are a helpful reminder for the exciting holidays forthcoming. From our Skytech family to yours, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and enjoy your next shopping spree!