Coyne Technology Systems

Online shopping is a wonderful way to get your stuff nowadays. You can get absolutely anything on the Internet and most of these sites offer great bargains and no shipping costs. This means no commuting is necessary, no worrying about parking, no queues, no more wasting time or energy to buy anything. You can do it online at one click of the mouse right from your bedroom.
As with all good things, there is a bad side to this remarkable trend, i.e. the possibility to get scammed. To ensure that you have only good experiences with online shopping, you need to recognize and avoid scammers. Don’t get scammed online: here’s what to do when e-shopping to stay safe:
1. Anything That Looks Too Good To Be True Should Make You Extra Cautious – if something looks too good for the price, be careful. You may be walking into a scam. Check and double check the site. Try to speak to the someone at the company and re-confirm that the product is what you understand it is. Read the fine print and disclaimers closely. Do not pay until you are 100 per cent sure that the deal is real.
2. Phishing Is Mostly Done Through Online Shopping Sale Sites – scammers know that the regular person cannot resist a great bargain. In turn, great bargains are expected at sales. Hence, the easiest way to lure people to make a purchase is through phenomenally picturized websites that announce super sales. Before making payment, be careful. Check for the Verisign mark, which his like a small closed lock at the beginning of the URL of the page where it asks you to put in your credit card details. If the lock is not there; if the URL does not start with https:// (the “s” is important for it means “secure”) do not make the payment for the sire is false.
3. In The Name Of ‘Registration’ It Is Asking You Personal Information – it is okay if for registration with an e-shopping site you need to provide you address, you name, your email id and your cell phone number. It is not okay if they ask you – for registration – your birth date, you bank account details, your pin (the number you feed in for accessing cash at the ATM), your security number and so on. If the site is asking illogical questions – check it out more closely. If you feel any red flag comes up, leave it.
4. Beware Of Phantom Sites – phantom site are those that have one name and description, but open on a completely and often unrelated site. These sites would be put up only temporarily to just cheat a few naïve people and then disappear. If the URL you click upon and the one of the page that opened is different, close it and if you can report it as possible fraud/ scam.
5. Read More Than One Review Of The Product – sometimes, the e-shopping site would have on display a number of positive reviews. To get a most accurate picture of the products, you need to check more than 3-4 reviews; and when you do so, ensure you are reading reviews on sites unrelated to the product.

Jenna G. is a writer for Ukritic.com. If you like buying things online, you are probably aware of the scams that are rampant. If you want to earn money, AND help others who are buying things online, post a review on ukritic. Take a look at the site now!