Cyber Monday was born to encourage online shopping. The origin of Cyber Monday dates back to 2005. It was only 15 years ago that date, when electronic commerce was taking its first steps and only a few users made purchases over the Internet. This is how this day was born, with the main objective of promoting online purchases.
The idea was to link the celebration to Black Friday, so that users who had not been able to take advantage of Black Friday could enjoy offers and discounts in online stores. In 2005, the vast majority of Americans did not have Internet at home. However, many could connect to the network at their workplaces. In 2012 was when the Cyber Monday phenomenon began in Spain.
Now that you more or less know the story, let me advise you how to spend a Cyber Monday without risks. Since this day has become a very important day, not only for consumers, but also for cybercriminals.
Buy only from trusted sites or from ones you have already purchased from before. Don't trust big discounts on well-known brands.
Make payments with a debit or credit card through the Redsys payment gateway or the PayPal system (they are the 2 most secure), normally banks have card payment insurance and PayPal alone ensures the payment. Do not pay through another payment method. If you do this, in the event of a scam, our money could be recovered sooner. And never provide your card pin number or your bank checking account number to anyone. That is synonymous with scam, run away from that page and much less pay in cryptocurrencies or by transfer.
Be careful with Pop-ups (pop-up windows), they can take you away from the trustworthy page and take you to another fraudulent site. Ignore them.
Don't be in a hurry to buy, do cybershopping. Look, look, look again and only if you are sure buy. The rush and the desire to take advantage of the alleged bargain can co-invest you in the bargain.
Check before purchasing if the page is registered and complies with current legislation. Go to the bottom of the page and look for a tab that says LEGAL NOTICE or PRIVACY POLICY. In either of the two you must identify who is the owner of the website and where it is located and a way to contact it. If this tab is not there or when you read it, they are located in strange countries, exit the page, it may be a scam.
Also look in the address bar to see if the URL makes sense. I'll give you an example: www.galindobenlloch.es is my correct page, but if someone wanted to confuse you they could do this: www.galindobenlloch.es or www.galindo.galindobenlloch.es. And worst of all, they would have the security padlock. That S that accompanies solvent pages (https://) since it only means that the communication between the user and the website is secure, it does not guarantee either the content of the website or what is traded on it. Don't trust it.
If after putting all this into practice, you think you have been the victim of a scam, I will tell you what you should do in a minute.
1-Call your bank immediately and tell them what happened, whatever time it is and wherever you are.
2- Immediately change your passwords on other cards (we normally use the same ones for everything) those for entering the bank, those for social networks, those for email, those for your home alarm, that is, all of them.
3. Always report, no matter the amount or how it was. Don't care what they say. The agents at the complaint offices are used to dealing with these types of scams and will treat you well.
4- Save everything, don't delete anything. Save the address of the website, the link that you received via social media or instant messaging. The phone number that called you. Every detail is vital to catch the bad guys. Don't delete anything. It wasn't your fault. You have been a victim of a scam. You don't have to hide anything and much less be ashamed.
I hope that all these tips come in handy for you, and now let's enjoy this great day. And remember, the bad guys are out there.
