TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Attorney General Ashley Moody is advising Floridians to participate in safe holiday shopping practices over the next month.
Moody’s safer holiday shopping guide includes information and tips on secure online shopping, charity-related scams, item recalls and more.
“With one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, many Floridians will need to tackle their holiday shopping lists sooner,” said Moody. “The fast pace of the shopping season brings with it more opportunity for scammers to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers. I encourage everyone to take steps now to safeguard their personal information and finances and avoid falling prey to common holiday scams and identity theft.”
Below are some of the tips included in the shopping guide:
- Use a credit card instead of a debit card for online transactions, if possible. Both methods allow for charge disputes, however, with a debit card the purchase is immediately deducted from the bank account and may take days or weeks to reverse the charge.
- Ensure the web browser being used has a secure connection before submitting payment information while ordering online. A padlock should appear in the address bar if the session is secure.
- Review any charitable solicitation carefully by searching online to see reviews of the charity or checking with the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance to see if there are any complaints against it.
- Watch out for similar sounding charities. It is not unusual for sham charities to choose names that sound like other legitimate charities.
For more tips, click here.
For shopping guide in Spanish, click here.
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