Black Friday: Buy “securely”!

Next Friday is Black Friday. Online shops are trying to tempt you with huge dis­counts and look for­ward to brisk busi­ness. But all those Black Friday cam­paigns don’t just attract cus­tomers – but also criminals!

Whether for smart­phones, TVs, game con­soles, video games or kitchen appli­ances:  On Black Friday, there is a ver­i­table run on online shops. Many want to profit from those bar­gains  – crim­i­nals, too.

To shop online as “securely” as pos­sible, you should note the fol­lowing recommendations:

• Shop only at trust­worthy online shops
  You should check out the vendor you are dealing with before you buy online every time. Next to all those large and well-known traders, there are also many unknown ones: You can tell a rep­utable vendor by the fol­lowing characteristics: 
  • Does the web­site have a trans­parent design? Are their T&Cs and con­tact details (address, tele­phone number, e-mail etc.) stated on their site?
  • Is it a Swiss vendor? To make sure, you can check this on www.zefix.ch.
  • Is there a free option to con­tact them by phone?
  • Enter the name of the vendor into a search engine: Are the reports you find pos­i­tive or neg­a­tive ones?
• Check that the con­nec­tion is secure before entering any sen­si­tive details
  Regard­less of whether you are using an online shop, please note: Always make sure that all data (in par­tic­ular all pass­words and credit card details) are trans­mitted in encrypted form. You can read up on how to recog­nise a secure con­nec­tion here.
• Use strong passwords
  Next to account details, pass­words for online shops are a pop­ular target of so-called “phishers”. Using such pass­words, crim­i­nals could order goods at your expense or abuse your credit card details for other pur­poses. You can read up on how to create and use secure pass­words here.
• Be careful with advance payments
  If pos­sible, always order your goods on account and don’t pay in advance. Oth­er­wise there is a risk that you never receive your goods and lose your money.
• Pro­tect your devices
  Make sure your devices are well pro­tected by con­sulting our “5 steps for your dig­ital secu­rity”.

Fur­ther infor­ma­tion can also be found on the Weg­weiser Online-Shop­ping (online shop­ping guide) by the Staatssekre­tariat für Wirtschaft SECO.