Online shopping safety tips out

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is cautioning consumers purchasing various goods and services online.

“Do not be deceived by unbelievable offers. If the offer seems too good to be true, then probably, it is not true,” the DTI stressed in Monday’s advisory, adding that to validate offers, would-be buyers should contact the website or the merchant. “Look also for the DTI sales permit number, which is issued to duly-registered businesses conducting local sales promotion open to the consuming public.”

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Know the seller when buying products online by validating the seller’s contact information. “Search the Internet to know if the seller/s can be trusted or if they have any records of fraud and misconduct. If an online shop’s policy and payment modes do not suit you, do not transact with them.”

DTI also underscored the importance of reading the seller’s privacy policy statement. “No matter how lengthy it is, it is vital that you read and understand the privacy policy of the online shop that you will be transacting with so you would know how they handle and secure the information that you will provide them.”

It added that most online shops accepting credit card payment use an SSL or a secure sockets layer encryption, which ensures a secure transaction. “A consumer would know if a website has an SSL installed if the URL (uniform resource locator) starts with ‘https’ instead of just ‘http’.”

To ensure that nobody else has access to one’s personal accounts and data, a would-be online buyer should use his/her own computer or laptop when shopping via the web. “Do not give too much information when filling-out online forms and beware of hackers by installing and updating the computer’s anti-virus and/or anti-malware program and making sure that this is reliable for optimum security against Internet threats.”

And always log out your account after every transaction because an account left logged in is exposed to hackers, the DTI stressed. (CGC)