Faster and more reliable Internet has opened the doors too endless shopping advantages.

Easy Price comparison’s and bigger product ranges have made online shopping a popular choice to avoid all the chaos that goes with the festive preparations.
With the increase in popularity in online shopping, it has attracted more online scammers and fraudsters.
Staying safe while shopping online has never been more important. Online shopping requires sharing of private information that can open the doors to fraud.

Here are some of our tips to stay safe while enjoying your online shopping:

• Always shop from a secure PC or device, that has a good security suite installed such as Bitdefender (now available through Amobia).

• Use known and trusted sites. Not all shopping sites are safe and secure, and not all sites are designed just for shopping but rather for stealing your information.

• Find out from your bank what insurance coverage there may be for fraudulent transactions on your debit / credit card

• The use of pay services, for example PayPal, can add an extra layer of protection.

• Look for security symbols in the URL such as a closed padlock or key (you will find it to the left of the website address, or URL, at the top of your browser). Only use sites that include these.

• Make sure the site uses https and not http. Never trust webpages that don’t provide SSL encryption.

• Ensure you have a Onetime Pin (OTP) setup on your bank account. This will allow you to approve any online purchases.

• Never share your OTP or card pin number with anyone.

• Your bank will issue you with an OTP and will never ask you for your OTP number.

• Keep a record of your transactions and payment confirmations and verify them against your bank statement.

• Don’t use internet cafés or public Wi-Fi to shop online or access your mobile banking app or internet banking

• Be aware of phishing scams that impersonates your favourite shopping site with, urging you to click on links. Avoid clicking on any links via email or SMS. Rather visit the site by typing in the URL and searching for the deals directly on the site.

• Scammer’s often create fake shopping sites to mimic legitimate retailers to steal consumer data.

• Always check URLs of websites and webpages for typos or grammar mistakes. This is an indicator for a illegitimate site.

• Find out from your bank what bank account verification services they have available for online transacting