7 Tips to Avoid Fraud and Get Insurance on CyberMonday 2022

At this point in the game, it’s happened to you or a friend or a cousin’s friend, but almost no one has been oblivious to the cyber fraud. And it’s not paranoia: according to the Cybercrime Brigade of the Investigative Police (PDI) between 2020 and 21, digital scams increased by 30%, while computer sabotage increased by 45%.

Unfortunately, this makes sense: as there is an increasing flow of transactions on the internet, cybercriminals are taking advantage and launching their tricks. That’s why you need to prepare for the next CyberMonday, which starts Monday, October 3 at 00:00, and for three consecutive days will offer thousands of offers from nearly 800 brands and stores.

It’s a good opportunity to buy what you need or what you need with good discount, but as consumers, we have to be careful and careful. There will be many links and emails with tempting offers, but the first thing is to beware, check and not let your guard down against possible scams, thefts or identity theft.

What to pay attention to? How to identify possible fraud? We spoke with two specialists, both in online consumption and in cybersecurity, and between them they gave us seven key considerations that every consumer should follow so that in this case they really save money and don’t end up losing it.

Maximiliano Valdés is director and founder of Chocale.cl , media specializing in digital consumption and banking information. As a first recommendation for this CyberMonday —and any other event of this type—, it is advisable to carefully read the list of participating stores and official brands, available at computer science . 788 companies are participating in this opportunity, in addition to 38 solidarity foundations and 25 regional companies.

The fact that they are officially affiliated with CyberMonday means that they have the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago, which in turn demands a series of requirements from the participating brands regarding the security of their systems, the reliability communication with the consumer and the confidentiality of the data provided by the buyers.

“There may be stores or brands that aren’t at the official event but still announce a few deals,” he says. In this case, given the existence of an attractive discount, Valdés’ recommendation is to review the reputation of this site. If you did not know him or someone around you, and you cannot find information about him, it is better to abstain.

“When a discount is too extreme, with incredible prices for the quality of the product they offer, I suggest being very careful,” says Francisco Fernández, general manager of AVANTIC a company that advises on cybersecurity issues, setting up and executing barriers so that other companies’ sites and websites are insurmountable fortresses.

“If they sell you a television that has gone from a million pesos to $100,000, the first thing to do is be suspicious. This is the first alert that a person must heed,” he says. Then, the second “doubt” that we must cultivate concerns the origin of the offer: if it came by email, WhatsApp, Instagram or another site that you did not know. “Warning calls are one of the tools used by cybercriminals,” says Fernández.

Therefore, if the offer is amazing, check that the site promoting it is an official part of Cyber. Otherwise, the healthiest thing is to let it pass.

How can we check if a site or store is legit or trustworthy? It’s easier than it looks, and it’s within reach of anyone with a smartphone or computer with internet. Valdés advises seeing if there are any complaints or praise from social media followers of the brand or company in question. Fraudulent or untrustworthy sites usually have a lot of negative reviews or simply don’t have social media.

Another filter he suggests is to Google the name of the business with the word “complaints” preceded by a plus sign (eg, “Butchery + complaints”). In the results, you can find information that may be relevant before your purchase. “There is also a section on the Sernac site called Citizen alerts where you can see whether or not there are any complaints related to that brand or that store,” he adds.

Faced with this information, two scenarios can be presented, explains Valdés. The first is that the company does not have a very good quality of service, that it has a bad after-sales service or that the deliveries are delayed. “Which can also happen to a big Cyber ​​Monday affiliate marketer, of course,” he adds. There, it will be at your discretion whether or not to proceed with the purchase.

But you can also access Internet forums or social networks where you will discover the experiences of other consumers regarding a certain brand, product or service. Here you will know with more certainty if it is a really scam site, and not just a store with poor service. “It’s important that you check the sites for complaints as well as the terms and conditions of use,” says Valdés. “There must be visible contact details and no spelling mistakes, two clear and obvious signs that this is a scam,” he says.

If you’re determined to buy, Fernández suggests doing so directly from the merchant’s site “and not through intermediaries.” Sometimes the intermediate links – which arrive mainly by email but also via social networks – can be malicious or fraudulent, made directly to deceive.

“What they often do is create a site similar to the one they want to replicate, with a very similar link but not exactly the same. Some details go unnoticed, so some people don’t notice and make the This is how they not only keep the money, but can also capture card information and perform more fraudulent transactions with your bank details,” he explains.

When paying, you must also ensure that the payment portal is known. “You should always double check and take a good look at the page before making a transaction, especially if it’s a place where you haven’t put your card before,” warns the manager of Avantic.

It may sound absurd to you, but one of the most common scams also occurs at this point in the process. “Many frauds are associated with the change of delivery address, so that the product arrives at another place”, explains Fernández. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully review this item at the time of purchase and ensure that the data you enter is the same in the office. For this you must always have an email that verifies the purchase and in which this information is repeated and confirmed.

Another safe way to shop online during these massive events is to use less compromising alternatives. “Some banks offer the issuance of virtual cards, where you do not give your real credit card number but they invent a fictitious number, which is only used for a purchase”, explains Valdés.

For him, it is an excellent alternative, because if we become victims of fraud, the cybercriminal will not be able to continue using the card since it stopped working at the time the transaction was made. It’s something like a disposable virtual card.

As for prepaid cards —like MACH, Tenpo and Superdigital, among others—their operation is very simple: you simply pay the balance just enough to make the purchase you need. Unlike a credit card, if you don’t preload the card, you can’t use it. “That way I avoid risks like data being captured and reused later,” he says.

“If the purchase fails, worst case scenario they only keep the exact amount you paid and not your entire bank account; likewise the possibility that they may make multiple purchases fraudulent is cancelled, ”he adds.

Fernández does the exercise of putting himself in the shoes of the cybercriminal that as a consumer it can be useful to remember like a kind of cricket Jiminy whenever we are on the eve of cyber or massive retail sales during certain days.

“Cybercriminals always take advantage of these moments of consumer euphoria to be able to catch the less cautious, those who know computer security, and they do it mainly by deception”, explains the Avantic specialist. “They want us to believe that they made the purchase in the right place, that we paid in the right place and that they are going to ship to the right place.”

For this, they send thousands of fraudulent emails, in which they try to steal banking information and cause identity theft, among other cybercrimes. “Cybercriminals take advantage of these times when there is a lot of shopping to commit these crimes. That way, in the midst of so much movement, neither people nor banks notice,” he warns.

If you make a purchase during CyberMonday, especially from a site or business that is not officially affiliated with the event, Fernández recommends “continually monitoring account statements, both of the debit account as well as the credit account associated with the card, in order to detect collection irregularities”.

The urge to grab a bargain or buy a limited product can create a lot of frenzy and excitement, but always keep a cool head, put away your card and count to ten or twenty before you buy.