As the holiday season keeps us busy with gatherings and shopping, we must never forget that thieves are also busy looking for opportunities to steal our personal or financial information online.
At TDECU, protecting our valued Members and your personal information is one of our priorities, so we are sharing tips to help you shop online safely this holiday season and all year long.
Shop with trusted online retailers.
Holiday ads may pop up to lure you to unfamiliar sites, but stick with the websites you know and trust for your holiday shopping. Otherwise, you risk your personal and payment information falling into the wrong hands.Look for signs of security.
While shopping, look at the website’s URL for the “HTTPS” and not just “HTTP.” The “S” confirms that the website is secure. You can also look for the padlock symbol next to the URL or at the bottom of your browser.Use a secure network.
Never conduct financial transactions of any kind on a public network, such as the one at your favorite coffee shop. Wait to make your purchases when you’re on a password-protected network.Create and use strong passwords.
Using passwords that are easy to guess or derived from your publicly available information is a bad idea. Devise an adaptable strategy for creating unique passwords that are not only strong but that you will also remember. You can also use a password manager tool, a program that safely stores all your passwords and logs you into sites where you do business.
The increase in online shopping gives thieves more and more opportunities to make your holidays less than merry – but using safe online shopping practices can help you stay safe all season long. For more information about this and other financial security tips, visit us at our Online Fraud Center.
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