GREENSBORO, N.C. — As you're holiday shopping, you might consider skipping the stress of heading to a physical store and shop online instead.
Credit monitoring company Experian says 43% of holiday shopping identity theft happens online.
Phishing is one of the more popular scams you'll encounter shopping online.
Basically the hackers are looking to steal your information through an email.
The email could be disguised as an ad for a website you might know and trust.
Common features of a phishing email include a deal that sounds too good to be true, an attachment in an email you weren't expecting or doesn't make sense, or hyperlinks that won't lead you to the real website.
Kyle James with ratherbeshopping.com suggests looking at the URL closely.
"If you are on the retailer's website and it just kind of looks like it was built in 1985, maybe there is no contact information, maybe there is no physical address, no phone number, those are all red flags that the website may not be legitimate," he said.
Here are some tips to follow:
- Only shop on secure Wifi networks, not public wifi.
- Be leary if a website requires you to pay with a gift card rather than a credit card.
- Use credit cards if you can because fraud charges are easier to resolve that way.
- Don't trust websites without "https" in the web address.
Social Catifsh has a list of other useful tips and other scams to be aware of.