Online scammers abound for Xmas - be careful online shopping this year!

New research into the prevalence of online scamming tells Kiwis that almost a fifth of us will get scammed for Christmas. Worse, almost a third of us won't learn from the first scam and will get caught out more than once!

With both Black Friday shopping and Christmas shopping being likely to massively increase in the leadup to the holidays, it can be expected that scammers will be out in their many thousands to target the victims of New Zealand's retail lockdowns.
Retailers aren't expecting to do well this year, being allowed to open only a few weeks before Christmas Day when tradition demands that all gifts are wrapped and waiting under the tree. That means most people are likely to start shopping now and hope that deliveries arrive in time to be ready for eager kids and hopeful mums and dads.

Here are some tips to keep yourself safe from scam shopping websites:

• Check the company behind the website. If you can't clearly see the company selling online (and can verify its a genuine one) move on and buy elsewhere.  
• Check the Privacy Policy, Shipping Policy, and Terms of Service for the website - if any are still written in generic terms and don't direct you to real people (including with a real telephone number) move on and buy elsewhere.
• Look for bad spelling and grammer that might suggest a scammer has set the site up quickly to try and get your credit card details!
• Find a generic section of text, and run a quick Google search to see if it comes up anywhere else online!
• Check for the padlock in the url address bar - it means the site has been secured.
• Use websites that are well-known (Amazon, Trademe etc), and don't assume that sites ending with .nz are all genuine. Overseas scammers register sites here for the sole purpose of fooling buyers into thinking the company is local. 
• Keep an eye on your credit card for the next few months to make sure no unauthorised purchases are being made. You may find small purchases of $10-$20 are regularly being taken so as not to alert you - I've been hit with that one myself! 
  

Don't let your Christmas be ruined by scammers this year, New Zealand - you've already had it bad enough!