Shopping, Black Friday fever begins Some advice to avoid online scams

The big chains ahead of Black Friday are launching a series of promotions that encourage customers to shop "crazy" even outside of "Black Friday". Offers and discounts without a doubt interesting, but the circulating feeling is that most people will wait for the fateful November 29th to put their hands on the object of desire. A day that many will dedicate not only to personal shopping, but also to start making Christmas gifts.

"Nine out of 10 Italians plan to shop on Black Friday, electronics and fashion are at the top of the wish list – says Mina Busi, president of Adiconsum Bergamo -. Shopping will be online and impulsive. The average expenditure is around 220 euros. Consumers have now made this tradition their own. And they are divided between impulsive planners and buyers: on the one hand there are those who follow a strategy and carefully plan the expenses for Black Friday, on the other – over half of consumers – there are those who will make purchases based on promotions. The percentage of loyalists at the physical store is still high (47%) and more than a real overtaking it would be rather a head to head, but it is a clear signal of the increasingly digital trends and habits of Italians ».

In Bergamo the Oriocenter shopping center has already announced that on Friday 29 November, it will be open for the occasion from 9 to 23 and will recognize 100 euros in a Gift Card for every 400 euros spent with a single receipt – from 5 pm to 11 pm – at a single point of sale in the Gallery, hypermarket included, among its 280 stores of which 50 are refreshment points.
The city center instead, with the lighting of the Christmas tree and the Ferris wheel Sunday 24 November, will respond with a series of Christmas events to entice a shopping walk on the Sentierone and in the shopping streets, while each merchant will move with personalized initiatives for its customers.

For those interested in online shopping, the search for information on the portals of large "market places" begins early, the catalogs are studied before the date. Judging that less than 10% return the products purchased during Black Friday, it is clear that the expenses do not disappoint.

But how to defend yourself against online scams? Adiconsum Bergamo lists, below, some useful tips to avoid online scams (or at least reduce the risk) and how to protect yourself and buy in total tranquility.

"First of all it is recommended to prefer official and notoriously reliable sites, avoiding buying from those portals that do not show confidence in the first phase of" landing ". We refer, in particular, to the elements that are frequently found in traditional online sales portals, such as the indication of the VAT number and in general of the seller's contact details, the application of non-anomalous prices (too convenient offers could , in fact, constitute an alert), as well as the presence of an active social network page populated with reviews and / or user requests.

In any case, since it is an evaluation approach that is anything but objective, the criterion just described is not in itself absolutely sufficient to establish a judgment of the reliability of the supplier; therefore the same, mixed with the other criteria described below, can be considered a simple indication.

It can also be useful, before proceeding with the purchase, to carry out a simple search on our favorite search engine to identify any comments and feedback from scammed users or simply not satisfied by the service offered. In fact, users tend to share their experiences and information on the Internet, especially if they are negative; and it is therefore possible that someone else was – in spite of himself – the victim of a scam on the occasion of a transaction on an unreliable site. Site that could be just what you are going to buy.

It is also important to verify that the web portal where you want to buy is equipped with the https protocol (a requirement attested by the presence of a closed padlock in the address bar), which guarantees that the connection between your computer and the site is protected and safe. Consider that the presence of this protocol is equivalent to a sort of quality certification of the site, as well as ensuring that user data is not tracked when browsing the portal.

The choice of payment method is also a decisive factor in avoiding fraudulent attempts. The use of credit cards or debit cards attached to the current account is not recommended, the data of which, in the wrong hands, would allow an easy drying up of the available resources.

It is better to use prepaid cards with an amount just needed for the purchase: in this way, even if there were an attempt at cloning, you would risk losing only the amount reloaded. Consider, in any case, that to complete a purchase transaction few data are indispensable such as card number, expiration date of the card and address for the shipment of the goods, so if a seller requires additional data he is probably trying to hire personal information that should not be disclosed. In addition, the following payment methods are preferable: bank transfer, cash on delivery, payment by Paypal.

Finally, it is advisable not to trust the text messages or emails that invite you to click on a link and enter your access data to a current account. The risk, in fact, is that the link links to a fake site, graphically similar to the institutional one, and that it is intended to induce the victim to enter their access data (user and password) for the sole purpose of draining their account or other illicit purposes (this is the known phishing practice). The right of withdrawal also remains for online purchases in the event of non-compliant or defective goods ».

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