The digital age has given mankind a lot of useful and already irreplaceable technologies and services: 3D printers, televisions and cinemas, digital television, banking, Internet, cellular communications, smart home and shopping online. All these save time, effort and money very much. You can receive a loan, make utility payments, replenish the mobile phone account and buy items you want without leaving your home. The global network is literally infested with offers and almost every seller has an online store, where you can walk, sitting at your computer, or even lying down with your tablet or smartphone in your hand. But trade over the Internet is as convenient for cybercriminals. When you are ready to buy, they are willing to steal. However, the risk of becoming a victim of thieves or misguided expectations can be significantly reduced by adhering to simple rules.

1. Shop at large and trusted websites. The search engines should help you; they will provide you with hundreds of links to reviews and forums.

2. If you are going to buy something on a little-known website, make sure that the web address in the line begins with "https". Look for reviews of previous buyers, if you have the opportunity to choose to pay upon the receipt of goods, choose it.

3. Make sure of the security of the electronic ordering page. In this case, your payment information will be filled with the use of SSL encryption, that is, your card number will be displayed with symbols.

4. Beware of unknown websites. Today, even a school student can create an online store and even without a second thought. But does he have enough responsibility and means to ensure his safety and the safety of customers? You should not enter your card data on such websites.

5. Choosing an online store, pay attention to the presence of the real address, the name of the brand, the availability of information on the founding legal entity, registration number, certificate, guarantee for the goods and the possibility of return

6. Keep data on orders in email-confirmations, make screenshots of pages of the order.

7. Do not rush to buy, where prices promise a very large discount, because you can get disillusionment and bitterness of disappointment instead of the goods. It is better to give preference to proven retail outlets with good reviews.

8. If you are going to buy anything at a certain website, but fr om an unknown seller, first check their reputation. Typically, reviews and evaluations are located right next to the name. If there are no, it is better not to risk.

9. Timely upd ate your anti-virus software. If your computer is infected with a keylogger, this program can and will record every keystroke and send to its sponsors-attackers. Your credit cards data, account passwords and other highly personal information may be among the stolen data.

Expert opinion

Oleksandr Tretyak, head of FUIB's department for cyber threats countermeasures

Taking into account that the Internet shopping is becoming more popular, the risk of becoming a victim of Internet fraudsters, that are primarily hunting for personal data of bank cards, is increasing among online shoppers. Today all banks provide their customers with the ability to block transactions on the Internet to avoid this. Thus, no one can make payments with the card, even if they have your data.

If you do not make payments on the Internet, it is better to disable this feature. This can be done by calling the customer service center, or on your own through the self-service. If you occasionally make purchases online, this option can be activated for one time, by calling a service center or through internet banking, and after the payment it will be blocked again. If you are an active online shopper, you can set limits for operations. This will reduce the risk of theft of funds from the card to the allowed amount.

By the way, for active online shoppers, a separate card with a lim it on the operations could become a good and safe solution to pay online. It will allow you not to "leak" your main card in the network, and thus the fraudsters will not be able to get these data. It is important to remember that the money is withdrawn from the account, and limits are se t on individual cards. Therefore, it is possible to carry out payments from the same account without restrictions when using the primary card and according to the limits when using the additional card.

Source: V gorode