- Video gives tips about what to look out for while shopping online this holiday season.
- Brandon Curtis with Cyber Geeks Global sits down with FOX 47 and gives out tips for online shopping .
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"It ultimately is the critical piece to determining whether you're going to be scammed or not," said Brandon Curtis.
Brandon Curtis is a Cyber Security Specialist with Cyber Geeks Global.
"What we do is IT and security for businesses mostly," Curtis said.
He says when shopping online there are quite a few things people run into.
"There's different type of advertisements out there. I think one of the biggest ones that we see are pop under ads, they're advertisements that will pop up and kind of take over your screen."
When these ads pop up Curtis says they try to draw people in with catchy wording.
And can also be in the form of text messages...Phone calls...Or even emails.
"Here's the biggest deal, you know, come to our website," Curtis said
"You're searching for you know, a crock pot or you're looking for something for your kitchen or whatever the case is, it's a big chance you might get an advertisement for that and it won't be legitimate," Curtis said.
In order to keep your information safe he says make sure you're paying attention to the address bar.
And looking for URLs that have words that are misspelled.
"Any website that doesn't have HTTPS in the beginning of that website, it's likely to be non legitimate, especially for online shopping, because that's what kind of tells people that it's a secure website or not," Curtis said.
Curtis says people should also try using a credit card when making purchases and not a debit card because sometimes charges can be reversed.
And if all fails and someone does gets a hold of your bank information you want to make sure your card is shut down.
"Because if you have someone out there that taking your credit card information on some of these scam sites where they're fishing you they definitely can cause a lot of damage and make other purchases that aren't yours," Curtis said.
And the biggest thing Curtis say to people...
"Be vigilant. You know, there are so many ways that people and scammers are going to try to to trick you and make you believe that is a legitimate."
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