8 Tips for Safe Online Shopping

Alpha Bank Romania has launched a campaign to raise awareness and fight against cyber fraud attempts, in order to support consumers during the shopping season.

Considering the upcoming period of offers and price discounts and the increasing interest in online shopping, as well as the risk of card users to become victims to fraud attempts, Alpha Bank Romania has intensified its efforts of direct communication to clients on digital education topic.

“We recommend to our clients to be vigilant, to prepare for the shopping season, and to protect their cards and other payment instruments. In addition to this advice, we provide them a series of services included in our current account packages, to help them enjoy this period without any unpleasant surprise”, stated Florin Brănici, Manager of Digital Banking and Alternative Channels Division, Alpha Bank Romania.

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Here are a few recommendations to protect yourself from cyber fraud attempts:

• Use biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition) for card transactions on merchants’ web sites;
• Customize your debit and credit card transaction limits in accordance with the value of your shopping payments using the online banking app. You can also enable or disable contactless, e-commerce or cash (ATM) transactions for each of your cards, and in case of emergency, you can temporarily block the card for any type of transactions;
• Activate the SMS, e-mail messages or push notifications services on your mobile phone for card payments, as an additional measure of control and confirmation for the transactions with/on your account;
• Buy only from trusted sources and avoid ads/promos with unbelievable discounts posted on social media, which frequently lead to “ghost” web sites created with the purpose of stealing bank account access data.
• Check the links and messages received with increased attention. Fraudulent web sites often include a false address, do not contain the secure “https” phrase at the beginning of the address, but only “http”, and fake messages have typos almost every time;
• Communicate with the bank only via the official channels: the bank’s web site, smartphone apps downloaded only from App Store and Google Play, and the dedicated phone number. Banks do not request personal or banking data through social media, messaging or e-mail;
• Watch out for alarming messages, as a bank never sends a message asking you to urgently access a link in order to avoid the blocking of your account/card;
• Do not provide your card details (PIN, expiry date, CVV2/CVC code) to receive money. The IBAN code is the only information required for receiving money in your account.