
Online shopping is increasingly popular: According to Eurostat, in 2024 72% of internet users were shopping online. Now – in the winter sales period – the chance of being caught by fraudsters is even higher. The head of the department of fighting with money laundering of Citadele Bank Viktor Tkachenko told how to protect when purchasing in the Internet. “Well-known internet shops are usually reliable, especially those that hold the Estonian Union of Electronic Commerce Estonia’s “Turvaline ostukoht” “Turvaline ostukoht” (Safe place to purchase) label. But you have to be cautious, as fraudsters are adventurous and can create copies of large online stores, using similar logo, colors and product assortment, and even adding fictitious feedback, ” Tkachenko noted. The more expensive product or brand, the more effort is taken to make the site look plausible. The customer may have the impressions that he is purchasing from a known online store, but in the worst case his money will fall into
the hands of fraudsters. In such schemes the goods either in general don’t deliver, or in place of branded products send fake. A common way to attract victims are good discounts. They can be advertised on social networks and through other channels. Additional opportunities to deceive potential potential customers are provided by unscrupulous
hand people winter discount campaigns. Big seasonal discounts are not so frequent, so and a price reduced by 80%, may not raise suspicion. When selling not the most expensive or used goods for fraudulent schemes more often than not.Many Facebook Marketplace users have probably experienced this as many users of Facebook Marketplace, both with sales and with purchases. Amounts in similar schemes, as
usually, are small, up to 50 euros, but the damage could be much greater, if the fraudster uses the data provided account or bank card. Luckily, you can protect yourself from fraudsters when making purchases on the Internet , for this is only need to attention to both the same site seller, and to the information that he requires to enter. If the site is poorly made, contains prints, it doesn’t work in all sections, menus or buttons, or no contact information, it can’t exclude fraud. “A successful internet store produces a good
impression as exclusively visually, as and in technical meaning: it is clear and easy to use, says Tkachenko. – – The sites of fraudsters are often made hastily and without sleeves.” As a rule, to make a purchase on the Internet it is required to provide the name and the name, also the delivery address and the phone number. In some some some cases you also have to enter payment data, such as the card number, its expiration and
security code CVV, or to log into Internet Banking. “If an online seller requests other sensitive information, you need to be very cautious. Neither any reliable internet store will request your personal code or PIN-code bank card”, – Adds Tkachenko. Compliance with basic principles of Internet security will help avoid risks when making purchases on the Internet.One of these principles is the use of different purposes of different passwords. “If you use the same and the same password, fraudsters can access your email and know which bank you are, and on based on this information to pretend to be a bank employee and attempt to attempt to convince you to tell them your user identity and confirm
your login to the InternetBank through the mobile application”, – explains a spokesperson for Citadele. It’s important not to use the same and the same password everywhere, choose secure passwords and change them regularly. You should also remember that the bank will never ask you to provide your passwords to your internet banking or the PIN code of your banking card. For
more security you should use two-factor authentication with less measure for account records, which you use especially actively, such as Gmail, Facebook or Amazon. In this case, if anyone attempts to access these from an other device or browser, you will receive a SMS message and can allow allow or deny entry. When
Internet shopping it is also very important to reliability of the internet connection. “Public Wi-Fi networks are not always secure – criminals can use this
to phishing your banking card or password to internet banking. “When using public networks do not log in to your internet banking and do not use other applications that
couldcontainsensitiveinformation,” saysTkachenko.And, of course, must “google”theinternetstoreandtheseller-astheprinciple,aboutfraudstersontheinternetYou can find a lot ofinformationandwarning messages.CitadeleGroupis aLatvianfinancialconcern.CitadeleCitadeleGrouphas its head officeinRiga,whilesubsidiariesandbranchesoperateinEstoniaLatviaandLithuania.