Retail scams: Fake deliveries and other schemes to watch out for

Retail outlet – supermarket in the U.K. Image by Tim Sandle

As the main Christmas shopping period approaches, more email scams are to be expected.  The company First Direct has looked at the most common ways criminals attack consumers online and devised a set of tips to help people protect themselves during the holiday shopping period.

The main types of risk factors that consumers face have been shared with Digital Journal.

Many of the scam centre on parcel delivery scams. This is a very common scam around this time of year, where a person receives a text or email appearing to be from a courier company or from Royal Mail, telling you you’ve missed a parcel and need to input personal details to organise a redelivery.

At a time of year where you’ll likely be buying things online and expecting deliveries, it can be very easy to fall victim to this type of scam, particularly as the text or email will often look perfectly legitimate.

To protect yourself, First Direct recommend that it is important to do the following:

• Don’t click any links in the email or text.
• Check the text or email for misspellings of your name or the courier company – if a text, this will often come from a random mobile number, and a fake email will often come from an email address that doesn’t look like a legitimate company email.
• Don’t input any personal information – a legitimate company won’t ask for personal details to book a redelivery.
• Treat any unexpected requests for money to request the delivery with suspicion.

Other Ways to Protect Yourself Against Online Scams

There are other risks facing consumers and it is important that measures are considered for protection. It can be useful for households to apply some ground rules.

Some ideas include:

• Sticking with trusted companies and always check online reviews.
• If a deal feels ‘too good to be true’ – it usually is. Be mindful of anything that feels too cheap – there is usually a reason for this.
• Always use secure sites with “HTTPS” in the web address.
• Never give your passwords, PINs or bank account numbers.
• Never pay for goods by bank transfer and be suspicious if you are asked to do so.
• Use different “strong” passwords for different accounts, as this will help protect your information in data breaches.
• When entering sensitive information or online shopping while away from home, try to use your network data rather than less secure public Wi-Fi hotspots.
• Do not open suspicious texts, pop-up windows or click on links or attachments in emails – delete them.
• Instead of clicking on links in online ads, it can be more secure to visit retailer websites directly.

In addition, it is useful to install security software such as anti-virus and two-factor authentication. This kind of software is often available for free. Furthermore, consumers should keep all security software and operating systems updated.