People want to shop ‘till they drop!
The biggest shopping weekend of the year is right around the corner and 69 percent of Americans — an estimated 164 million people — are planning to shop or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend (source NRF).
But they don’t necessarily want to leave their sofas:
PayPal’s 2017 Holiday Money Habits study finds that 80% of shoppers in the U.S. will shop on a mobile device this season, with almost half (45 percent) of Americans claiming mobile as their preferred holiday shopping device
What Are Ways to Avoid Phishing Scams?
Buyer beware: With mobile shopping so accessible it’s easy to get duped. Here are rules to live by:
1) If the offer is too good to be true it probably is. Example: an iPhone that retails for $1,000 is being offered at $300. This is a scam.
2) Don’t get caught up in the rush: we are in a sprint to get things done quickly- it’s best to make a list, slow down, price compare and do your research. Getting caught up may end up costing you.
3) Be wary of words like “official site” or “outlet store” OR if a URL uses dashes or dots in between words. For example “amazon dash today dot GA” is not a legit Amazon site.
4) BE REALLY CAREFUL if you get emails about a delivery service failure from a big retailer or Fed Ex OR USPS. This is generally a phishing scam used to get your information. Call these places directly if you are concerned.
Two in five U.S. consumers have fallen victim to an online phishing attack, (source: 2017 Cyber Monday Phishing Survey by Domain Tools)