Tips To Shopping Smarter & Safe This Holiday Season

Now that December will be here in just hours, I am expecting to see more houses in my neighborhood hang their Christmas lights and decorations. Not only are people in the spirit to decorate, people are in the spirit to shop.  I know that I am wanting to shop more!

As always I will be doing some of my holiday shopping online, along with millions of others eager to find discounts and good buys for gifts for their family and friends. Below are some tips I want to share with you to help you to not only shop smarter, but safer too!

1. Regularly update your PC anti-virus software to prevent hackers from stealing your personal info while shopping.
2. Make sure the website is secure before you hit submit on your purchase by looking for https in the link to the site you are, not http.
3. Avoid shopping on public computers to help prevent theft of your personal information.
4. Regularly check online statements to help identify credit theft.
5. Links appearing to lead to known retailers but w/ slight variations of URL can be attempts to steal personal info.
6. Pop-ups mimicking the look of common retailers can be fraudulent sites trying to steal credit information.
7. Make sure your screen name does not reveal information such as your real name or location.
8. Point of sale terminals can be unsafe. It’s usually safer to hand your card to a cashier to be run through a register.

For more ways to keep your family’s identity SAFE,visit: www.LifeLock.org.

Disclosure – I am a Lifelock Ambassador. The information in this post has been provided to me and any compensation does not influence my honest opinions.