As holiday approaches, everyone is preparing to shop for cheap affordable quality items, either for themselves or as gifs for others. Therefore, online shopping provides a very viable option for consumers, as it is quick and convenient. With this convenience, consumers may easily fall into the trap of cyber thieves. Where they set up fake shopping sites where goods are relatively cheaper then other sites, thus gaining consumers banking information.
This has made the police force determined to close down these fake shopping websites, and plans on enforcing touch sentences on cyber criminals to reduce the amount of fraud websites. Moreover, the police E-Crime unit had indicated that it took similar actions in 2010 closing down more then 1800 websites.
Therefore it is important for consumers to recognize and have precautions in dealing with these situations. First of all, it is important for consumers to only shop at legitimate sites and be wary of sites where prices are offered way below the original prices. And possibly reserving a credit card for online shopping. Lastly, consumers should be even more sensitive as holiday season approaches, as this is the time period where cyber crimes are at its peak.