Shopping Holiday Phone Deals? Watch Out for Common Scams
Big sales events bring both genuine deals and scammers trying to steal your money or personal information.
Source
ZDNet Security
Original headline: I found the 20+ best 4th of July phone deals: Save big on Galaxy, Pixel, iPhone, and more
Plain-English summary by GetCyberRight. Read the full report at the source above.
Major retailers are advertising significant discounts on popular smartphones for the Fourth of July holiday. Sales include deals on Samsung Galaxy phones, Google Pixel devices, and iPhones. While many of these offers are legitimate, big shopping events always attract scammers who create fake websites and ads to steal your money.
If you are shopping for a new phone during this sale period, you need to be careful where you make your purchase. Scammers often create websites that look nearly identical to real stores, offer prices that seem too good to be true, and disappear after taking your payment. Your credit card information and personal details could be stolen if you shop on a fraudulent site.
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Take these steps to shop safely during any major sale event. First, only buy from websites you navigate to directly by typing the address yourself, never by clicking links in emails or ads. Second, verify you are on the real website by checking the URL carefully for misspellings or extra characters. Third, use a credit card instead of a debit card, since credit cards offer better fraud protection. Fourth, if a deal looks impossibly cheap compared to other retailers, it probably is a scam. For long term protection during online shopping, consider setting up a separate email address just for shopping accounts. This makes it easier to spot phishing emails pretending to be from stores. Save the website addresses of your favorite stores as bookmarks in your browser. Check your credit card statements regularly for charges you do not recognize. These habits will help protect you during holiday sales and throughout the year.
Curated from trusted cybersecurity sources by GetCyberRight
Source: ZDNet SecurityStay ahead of cyber threats
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