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  Geebo 9:00 am on December 2, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Christmas shopping ( 22 ), counterfeit goods ( 12 ), holiday shopping ( 15 ), Homeland Security ( 4 ), online shopping, retail ( 49 )   

  Homeland Security warns of counterfeits for Christmas 

  

  If you’re looking for a very special Christmas present like a Louis Vuitton bag or a Rolex watch, you have to traverse through the minefield that are counterfeit goods. More often than not, when buying a well-known luxury brand item you’ll have to deal more with fakes then you will the genuine article. Besides being possibly ripped off, the high-end counterfeit goods market has been linked to every type of criminal activity from human trafficking to organized crime and funding terrorism. In the past year alone, the Department of Homeland Security has confiscated over $500 million in counterfeit goods.

  DHS has issued a warning about these phony products flooding the market during the holiday shopping season. They say to beware of websites offering deep discounts for normally expensive items as that’s a good indicator that the products are knock offs. A number of these sites offering these goods could also be just a front to gain your financial information and not even send you a product. DHS also wants people to know that knowingly buying a counterfeit product is also a federal offense and could land not only the seller but the buyer in jail as well.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtrmbTpjdq8%5D

  If you’re looking to buy these products first-hand, then only deal with reputable merchants and keep all the documentation that comes with it including receipts and confirmation emails. If you’re buying these items second-hand, any person selling these items should have all the documentation that goes along with them as they’re a common form of confirmation of the item’s authenticity. Some second-hand markets even have authenticity programs for high-end goods in order to try to prevent fraud. And while it may be fun to own a knock-off as a form of entertainment, keep in mind that buying one is not only illegal but you never really know where your money is going or what it’s funding.

  So, to keep everybody safe and happy during the holiday season, only buy genuine.

   

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  Geebo 9:00 am on November 27, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Black Friday ( 7 ), Christmas shopping ( 22 ), holiday shopping ( 15 ), online shopping, retail ( 49 ), Scams ( 1,368 )   

  How to avoid online Black Friday scams 

  

  In the past, we’ve advised against going to brick and mortar retailers on Black Friday. Not just for safety reasons but also because many retailers engage in misleading business practices by using limited stock to try o get you to buy more expensive items. Usually, these so-called doorbuster deals can be found for the same price or lower later into the holiday shopping season. In the past few years, we’ve advised shopping online rather than braving the crowds on Black Friday. However, even online Black Friday shopping comes with its own pitfalls.

  While many of the big-name online retailers are safe to shop through, scammers will try to trick you into believing you’re using one of those retailers, but it reality you may not be. Scammers will send out phishing emails using the actual logos of famous shopping sites but will leave a link in the email that will take you to a phony site that resembles the real thing. They’ll then try to gain your financial information for possible identity theft and other potential abuses. Along the same vein, scammers will pose as retailers and send you an email asking you to download something in order to get a deal. This will instead infect your device with malware which could allow bad actors to access your device remotely and steal as much information as they want from it. Always go directly to a retailer’s website rather than clicking on anything in an email.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO8MmaFFOr4%5D

  As the video above mentions, if at all possible, use a credit card over a debit card when making purchases. While both debit and credit cards offer protection against scam purchases, credit cards have better protections and won’t take any money directly from your bank balance. Also, keep an eye on both your debit and credit card accounts to make sure that no unauthorized purchases have been made on them. Many of these services can be set up to send you a notification every time the account is used. While the notifications may be a bit annoying, they can go a long way in preventing fraud on your accounts.

  And as always, keep in mind that gift cards are the currency of scammers and you could be ripped off in a number of ways when buying gift cards. You can check our previous post here about what to look out for when buying gift cards.

  Once again, we wish you a happy and headache-free holiday season.

   
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  Geebo 11:57 am on November 29, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Black Friday ( 7 ), consumers ( 5 ), Cyber Monday ( 2 ), online shopping, shopping ( 4 )   

  More consumers sat out Black Friday this year, opting for online shopping 

  

  It seems that a number people took our advice, as a record number of people decided to sit out the Black Friday drama in brick and mortar stores this year. According to several financial indicators, more people decided to shop online during Black Friday than years past, with a record amount being spent just from mobile devices alone.

  Just purely based on anecdotal evidence it sure did feel like a different Black Friday from years past. As near as we can tell there weren’t the same number of soul crushing stories about consumerism turned violent as there have been in years past. Let’s not forget than when the term Black Friday was first coined it was not meant as a compliment but as a harbinger of doom.

  This isn’t to say that brick and mortar stores don’t have their uses. I’m sure most of us have been in that situation where we needed an emergency item at 3 in the morning. Until automated online retailers can teleport orders to consumers instantly, the brick and mortar stores will still be needed, however there are options now available to keep people from committing heinous acts in the name of holiday savings.