Shoppers are jumping online to take advantage of Cyber Monday deals. But taking advantage of this deal day isn’t without its risks.
Kevin Powers, cybersecurity expert and professor at Boston College, told KNX News’ Jon Baird those shopping online need to take precautions to protect themselves from thieves and hackers.
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A big way shoppers can protect themselves - use a credit card rather than a debit card. And be selective about where you surf for deals.
“Use your home network, your work network. Do not do your shopping on your lunch break, down at the local coffee shop or down at a hotel near your office or anything like that where you're using their Wifi,” Powers said.
Powers also said to not click on links in an email, just go directly to the store’s secure website. The links could be attempting to snare you through phishing – posing as a legitimate business before snaring you and snagging your personal information.
Now that you know how to protect yourself, KNX News shifted gears and spoke withTrae Bodge, a shopping expert, about where to find the best deals.
“We'll see lots of flashy ads and everything looks exciting, but you should always take a moment to look around, make sure you're getting a good deal,” she said. “A couple of things that I would do here, use either Google shopping or Yahoo shopping.”
Bodge recommends searching for the name of the item that you're looking at to get an idea of how much it’s selling for. Also, use a deal site – like slickdeals.net – to see if you can save even more on top of a retailer deal.
Cyber Monday is known to have strong deals for certain categories. Some deals Bodge found online include:
- Up to 70% off for Alexa devices on Amazon
- Up to 50% off headphones at Target
- Up to 50% off designer handbags at Nordstrom
Another thing to pay attention to is return policies.
“I heard an interesting stat the other day that now 40% of retailers are starting to charge for returns,” Bodge said. “I do think that you can get free shipping a lot during the holiday, especially if you happen to meet a threshold.”
Giving gift receipts can help make those returns go smoother. But Bodge said if you are returning after Hanukkah or after Christmas. you might have to pay a shipping return fee.
This is something to keep in mind throughout the holiday shopping season.
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