Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Festive Season shopping should be happy and carefree events. Don’t let criminals steal your joy this shopping season.
Safety At The Mall
- Be aware of your surroundings – this is one of your greatest weapons as distraction is your biggest enemy.
- Park in well-lit areas and as close to the entrance door as possible.
- Do not sit in your car checking messages, as you are vulnerable and distracted.
- Never leave valuables in plain sight in your car, put them in the boot.
- Manually check that your car doors are locked, remote car-jamming is a common threat. Even if your car makes a locking sound, double check every time.
- Keep your cash in your wallet to the minimum and don’t let people see how much cash you are carrying.
- Keep your mobile phone and wallet out of sight.
- Keep the zip of your handbag closed.
- Carry your keys in your hand ready to unlock the car when you go into the parking area.
Online Shopping Safety Tip
- Look for the lock: Only transact on secure websites. Look for the lock image on the toolbar, valid certificates such as VeriSign and secure payment systems such as PayU. When you get to the page where you enter your credit card or other personal information, look for an ‘s’ after ‘http://’ in the web address of that page – it should read: ‘https://’.
- Do your online shopping in safe places: Don’t do your shopping in coffee shops and malls. With public Wi-Fi, there’s a bigger chance for fraudsters to intercept your connection and get hold of your usernames and passwords.
- Watch out for strange emails and links: Fraudsters are quite good at mimicking known websites, which enables them to easily create emails with fraudulent links in them that look legitimate.
- Use strong passwords: Don’t create a password that is easy to guess or hack. Use an 8-digit password combination of upper-case letters, symbols and numbers.
Use two-factor authentication methods: In the world of online shopping and banking, the OTP (one-time PIN) is a must-have.
24/7 Security Services – info@24-7security.co.za / 011 444 2237
