Are you ready for some holiday shopping? Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or simply online shopping this holiday season, there are some helpful things to be aware of before spending your hard-earned money online!

• Double check websites before making a purchase.
• Pay via a secure payment system.
• If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!
• Protect your accounts with a strong password
• Use a good anti-virus program
• Use a reliable VPN

Online shoppers in the U.S. spent a total of $24.75 billion online over Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday in 2021. However, it’s important for shoppers to be aware of the common shopping online scams that are especially prevalent during this period. These include fake shopping websites, falling for offers that are too good to be true, identity theft scams, etc. 

Editor-in-chief Jackie Leavitt commented on the situation: 

The prevalence of online scams are increasing every year, and the styles of scams are also diversifying and multiplying, from phishing scams to impersonation scams to fake website scams. The holiday time is a great time for scammers to take advantage of online shoppers, so it’s important for people to know the signs and protect themselves as best they can online with security tools.