The pandemic has drastically changed the way we live, with one major influence being the gradual shift from retail shopping to online shopping.
The reason is quite obvious: buying things online is infinitely more convenient than driving out to the store, looking for your desired product, and taking your purchase back home.
That said, with a slew of online retailing websites, as well as the anonymous nature of the majority of the Internet, it’s more important than ever to stay vigilant for potential risk of cyber threats.
This is especially true for households with children, as kids may be more prone to falling for scams. They’re also highly susceptible to stumble upon websites with inappropriate and dangerous content.
As a parent, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your child remains safe when navigating the web.
If you’re looking for ways to ensure your children have a safe experience, here are some online shopping tips to keep them safe.
1. Teach kids about online safety and common scams
It’s an uphill battle trying to monitor your child’s internet usage 24/7. Instead of going the all-out restrictive route, you can teach them how to navigate the Internet more safely.
One effective way of getting your kid to be more wary of potentially malicious activities online is by teaching them about the world of common scams.
For instance, you can emphasise the fact that many advertisements touting unrealistic giveaways or deals usually have sinister intentions underneath.
They’re usually put up to lure kids and non-Internet-savvy individuals to sign up on their fake websites, essentially helping them steal personal information.
Besides that, you can also teach them to report to you before they buy anything online. This way, you can monitor their purchase and suppress any exploitation attempts directed at your child.
By checking what they buy, you can also determine whether the product is genuine or not, and if it isn’t, you can give them a learning lesson so that they won’t fall for these tricks again.
Read more about how to avoid online shopping scams here: Westpac’s article on avoiding online shopping scams.
2. Shop on trusted websites only
When shopping for items online, take the time to verify the website’s legitimacy. Some websites pose as well-known brands and have the same interface, leading people to unknowingly give away their passwords or “buy” products that aren’t actually genuine.
To prevent falling for these fraudulent sites, ensure that the website you’re dealing with is the real deal. A good way to gauge the authenticity of a website is by looking at the address bar. If there’s HTTPS and a padlock, those are good signs that you’re in the right place.
As much as possible, do also try to avoid clicking on websites from ads and emails unless you’re certain they’re legitimate.
These sites, particularly if they’ve been sent through non-hosted emails, may not be trusted. Be sure to inform your family and children about these risks as well.
3. Control phone settings and limit in-app purchases
If you tend to leave your gadgets unsupervised, enable kid-control settings on your tablets and smartphones at all times. This will prevent them from accessing certain apps and websites. It also prevents them from buying anything on the app store, saving you from financial headaches down the line.
Tinker with your phone’s, the App Store, or the Play Store’s settings to restrict in-app purchases. You can restrict specific accounts—like your child’s account—so that they can’t pay for an app purchase without your approval.
Better yet, discipline your child on how they should act when they feel the urge to get an in-app purchase. Be gentle and communicative with them when they ask, but also be stern and teach them the value of money and the fleeting nature of virtual items.
By restricting what they can spend money on, the risk of accumulating a surprisingly high monthly phone bill will be greatly minimised. It’ll also help keep your child away from non-age-appropriate content online.
4. Monitor fraud in your bank statements
If you frequently do your shopping online, your fraud exposure risk increases slowly but surely.
While there are many safeguards in place to promote safety online, there’s always a non-zero chance for malicious actors to slip through the cracks and breach your personal information.
One way to know whether you’re safe from these fraudsters is by closely monitoring your bank and credit card statements. Search for any unauthorised or suspicious transactions that have occurred over time. If you’ve spotted something suspicious, contact your bank immediately.
Don’t wait for something bad to happen to you before you take action. You can set up alerts that will notify you when suspicious activity is taking place in your account in real-time. Be sure to also let your kids follow safety practises and prevent them from using your credit card easily.
By having a tight grip on your finances, you can keep them safe.
5. Verify seller reputation and read reviews
When you shop online, whether it’s trendy clothes or a new computer, you’re not dealing with salespersons in retail stores. Oftentimes, you’re dealing with faceless individual resellers and secondhand sellers.
If you’re dealing with these individuals, it’s in your best interest to read reviews on them. While a vast majority of them are clean and genuine folks, there are a few bad apples that may take advantage of a buyer’s naivety and scam them.
To minimise the chances of you and your children falling for their tricks, dive into their reviews and see whether they’re trustworthy or not.
Some sellers may be new and have only a few reviews, so be wary but respectful around them. If your seller has plenty of positive reviews, chances are they’re legitimate.
That said, a few people may have fake reviews listed in their profile, so be sure to check their legitimacy and take advantage of the marketplace’s refund and reporting policies.
This way, in case you get scammed, you have immediate access to the right channels to retrieve your money back.
6. Don’t store personal information in online stores
While many popular e-commerce platforms give the option for users to save their payment and shipping information for future purchases, this practice may leave them susceptible to data theft in the event of data breaches.
If you have a child that uses your account, this is doubly important. Giving your child free rein to swipe your credit card can tempt them to use it on suspicious websites—increasing the risk of your information and financials getting stolen.
On top of going this route, it’s also important to use secure payment methods when dealing with online purchases. Using secure payment methods like PayPal can be effective as they aren’t tied to the website in case of a data breach.
If you want to lower the risk of sensitive data getting stolen, just manually input your credit card information every time you make a purchase.
Conversely, use safer, third-party payment methods. This will keep your finances and personal information away from cyber hackers.