- Because it’s (usually) better to be safe than sorry…
In 2022, ScamWatch, a scam report site, recorded that individuals lost over $2 million to hacking and unauthorized access. According to the site, over 8000 people reported getting their accounts hacked, and 6.4% of that number had lost significant money.
The digital world presents many opportunities for people to purchase necessities with ease. However, whether you’re buying groceries online or visiting virtual gambling sites to wager on online poker games for Canadians, it’s crucial to safeguard your financial information from the prying eyes and reach of the men of the dark internet.
Although the e-commerce industry is brimming with unique innovations, there are also fraudulent peddlers looking to steal your money. You can only discern and protect yourself from these sites when you follow a guarded digital lifestyle. This article will discuss the best practices to ensure secure online transactions.
8 Safe Practices for Secure Online Transactions
You’ll be scammed online if you don’t layer your online associations with substantial security measures. You can use some of these safety tips to keep yourself from harm’s way:
1. Ensure You Use a Secure Connection
Make sure that you’re browsing through secure connection channels. You can start by avoiding public Wi-Fi, as it can expose you to several online piranhas lurking around. But, if you must use public Wi-Fi, it’s advisable to use a strong VPN connection to protect your online transactions. VPN connections encrypt your online address and place you in another location, making your activities harder to track or monitor.
You should also double-check the site’s URL, as it’s one of the best ways to know if a site is safe or not. The secured ones usually begin with HTTPS://, while the less secured ones begin with HTTP://. That should be your first observation, and it can save you from falling victim to online fraud.
2. Use a Strong Password
Passwords are your “frontline defense” against malicious software and unauthorized users. You can evade a cyber-attack by strengthening your passwords; use random words, try funny combinations of letters and numbers, and use unique pins that aren’t your birthday or the traditional 123456 and 0000.
You might be tempted to use the same numbers or letters as log-in passwords across all your social media platforms, bank apps, and maybe phone lock, but this could be detrimental to your financial health and privacy. Using different passwords can be confusing, but you can write them in your diary or use password manager apps to organize them.
Regardless of how you manage your passwords, you must use strong and different passwords across all your platforms to reduce the risk of unauthorized infiltration.
3. Double-Check the Legitimacy of the Website You’re Using
Whether you’re buying in-app features on your favorite game or paying an online vendor for the strawberry shampoo you ordered, it’s always important to check the legality of the site you’re working with before paying. This is also vital if you’re playing at an online casino. Several platforms are disguised as “too good to be true” gambling sites with enticing bonuses and incentives to draw you in. Beware.
You can check the legitimacy of a platform by reading reviews online, checking their license status, looking out for poor grammar on their page, reading their privacy policy, following up on their contact page, among other things. Overall, you shouldn’t divulge your information until you’ve run a secure background check on the platform you plan to do business with.
4. Go for Credit Over Debits
Credit and debit card differences aren’t restricted to their nature of payment; one also offers more solid protection than the other. Your debit card information can give fraudulent sites, and sellers access to your accounts without stress, but it’s harder to do that with a credit card.
Here’s how it works: debit cards are directly linked to your bank account, and any money withdrawn is taken directly from your bank. On the other hand, credit cards don’t take your money immediately, it just adds it to your line of credit, and you can pay it back in the future — with interest, of course.
This seemingly negligible difference can determine your vulnerability to online frauds, as debit cards might take cyber criminals straight to your bank details, while credit cards don’t. In fact, you’re usually safer when you have strict credit card limits.
5. Always Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-Factor authentication is a feature that ensures you go through two or more verification processes before you can access a site or app. This lessens the risk of hacking since you have to input different passwords at each stage. It also automatically reduces the chances of password theft because two-factor authentication requires more than your passwords.
6. Be Secretive with Your Financial Information
Regardless of how well you trust the site, you should think twice before tendering any financial information that might expose your privacy to online sharks. Sometimes, you might not even know you answered a financial question, and these are the times you should be on your toes.
For instance, if your online casino randomly asks you for your email address through a pop question while you’re playing, you should reconsider before providing it, especially if it holds no relevance to your activities on the site.
7. Logging Out is a Priority
It’s easy to forget you logged into an online app, especially if you assume the platform signs out for you. The log-out function automatically terminates every active session on the site, which might discourage you if you want your sessions on hold until you revisit.
However, it’s important to note that signing out prevents unauthorized users from accessing your session without verification. Some sites might log you out after a session, but it’s vital to ensure you log out. This helps you protect your privacy and keep your account safe from hackers.
8. Read the Privacy Policy
Many platforms include questionable actions in the privacy statement because they know most people don’t read it. Nobody wants to read a 5-minutes-long legal jargon on privacy and security, especially if you’re rushing to complete certain transactions.
However, reading these statements might save you from unnecessary cyber-attacks. You can also discover the hidden clauses that might jeopardize your privacy if you sacrifice those five minutes.
Final Notes
It’s vital to safeguard your online footprint since you spend most of your time between platforms that may be safe or unsafe. A seemingly basic online abnormality may put your financial information at risk and cause you to lose a vast amount of money and information. Hence you must pay attention to your activities. You lose nothing by being careful with your safety online, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
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