In Focus

Fraud, hacking, spoofing, scamming—it’s just getting insane.

You can’t trust anything online, especially ads. They make things look legit but often just want to take your money and run.

I shop online like millions of other people, but only from places that are reputable. If there is something you want to buy from an ad that scrolls across your social medial, you will often find the item is sold legitimately elsewhere, sometimes for a better price, sometimes it may be more expensive. Scammers’ ads show a reduced price in order to get you to click on it and buy it, and in the long run, losing your money and sometimes giving them access to your data.

It’s getting outrageous! Sometimes if I’m not sure about the website, I use a credit card—with fraud protection—with an app such as PayPal or Venmo, that way if something does happen my bank account is safe. So far, so good for me.

While I may do most of my online purchasing on the one and only Amazon, there are a few other sites I use to purchase other items. Last week I purchased something from one of the other regular sites I use—I’ve been using this site for a while and never had any issues.

I went shopping in Wadena for some computer accessories and my debit card wouldn’t work. That seemed weird. I knew there was money in the account and the card was not expired. I used my back up card and left with what I needed.

A few days later I got a call from my bank about a potential fraudulent charge. The charge was for $40 from the non-Amazon website I had ordered from. I explained to them that it was me who had placed the order and they reinstated my card. While I am glad my bank does check these things, sometimes it just seems odd what is flagged as fraudulent and what isn’t.

Well, the “evil” t-shirts are on their way and I can use my debit card again.

Stay smart my fellow online shoppers!