Cyber Monday tips for avoiding scams, pressure tactics and porch pirates

More than 72.3 million people are scouring the internet right now looking for a deal this Cyber Monday.

This is the second-most popular day, just after Black Friday, for holiday shoppers to fill their (virtual) carts with gifts for their loved ones, according to the National Retail Federation, which gave the event its name in 2005.

Consumers are expected to spend a record $13.2 billion Monday, 6.1% more than last year, according to Adobe Analytics, which has been tracking online shopping behavior.

Shoppers who are checking out retailer websites and searching the internet for popular items should be aware of scammers looking to do some shopping of their own.

Online fradusters want to steal cardholder information and money on popular online shopping days like Cyber Monday, Visa’s Ecosystem Risk and Control team warns.

Here are some tips from experts to help you navigate the busy shopping day and avoid online scams, retailer tricks meant to pressure shoppers into making a purchase, and potential porch thieves who hope to steal packages from your front door.

Avoid online scams

When you peruse the internet for sales from specific brands and retailers, make sure you’re clicking on and making purchases from their official websites.

Online security group McAfee identified a surge in counterfeit sites and phishing scams that use the names of popular luxury brands and tech products to lure consumers into purchasing products for what the consumer believes are unbelievably low prices. Instead, they’re giving away personal information (including credit card, address and account information) to cyber crooks.

McAfee researchers found these sorts of scams targeting footwear and handbag brands, including Adidas and Louis Vuitton. Scammers also tricked consumers by using the Apple brand on fake websites linked to stores selling counterfeit Apple items alongside unrelated brands.

Experts say the best way to counter these scams is to be skeptical of a product when the discount seems too good to be true. Carefully check the URL of a website to ensure that it’s legitimate — even minor variations in spelling or style are a telltale sign of a scam.

Consumers are also purchasing popular items from social media advertisements, but that’s an exceptionally risky place to shop, according to a survey by Visa. During last year’s holiday shopping season, the company found, a third of the shoppers polled said they experienced fraud from these advertisements.

To avoid this particular scam, don’t click on unsolicited links. And if you do decide to click, be sure the URL in the link matches the official one from the site or brand in the ad. Spelling errors or strange characters in the URL are also red flags.

Also, when paying online, check the URL to ensure it begins with “https://” — the “s” at the end indicates a secure connection, Visa said.

Pressure to make impulse purchases

It’s already overwhelming to make your gift list and check it twice to ensure that you’re not missing anyone, whether it be your aunt in Boca Raton or your mailman down the street. It’s even more overwhelming to find one of those gifts on sale at an online retailer, only to see a tag in bold lettering that says “High Demand,” “Low stock” or “In 10 people’s carts,” because your next thought tends to be, “This could sell out, I need to get it now.”

These are often just mind games retailers and advertisers play that are “designed to spur us to make hasty spending decisions,” said R.S. Cross, campaign director for Public Interest Research Group.

The organization found that on top of urgent messaging, some sellers on the online marketplace Etsy are using fake countdown timers on deals that don’t expire.

PIRG tracked 20 bestselling or Etsy-curated products with countdown timers on deals and discovered that 16 timers reset for another 24 hours when the timer hit zero. The other four items further dropped in price when the timer ran out.

Other common tactics include displaying how much an item will cost by making monthly installments that “both make low-cost products’ prices seem cheaper and make expensive impulse purchases more doable,” according to the organization.

To help resist this manipulation, Consumer Reports suggests that consumers create a budget and stick to it. It’s easier said than done, especially when Black Friday deals are presented as limited-ime offers.

Consumer Reports also recommends starting shopping early. If you purchase an item now and see a price that has dropped later, you can contact customer service and they’ll usually refund the difference.

As you search for deals this week, Cross said, compare items across various online retailers “and don’t get distracted by offers you haven’t had the time to think through,” said Cross.

You can use online tools including Google Shopping, Price Grabber and Shopzilla to compare the price of products on various retailer outlets.

Porch pirates

Online purchases are easy because once you click the “complete order” button, all you have to do is wait for the package to arrive at your front door. But porch pirates may also be prowling for packages to arrive so they can swipe them.

These thieves steal packages primarily from residences whose front doors are easily visible and within 25 feet of the street, according to the Better Business Bureau.

In the past year, porch pirates have stolen approximately $12 billion worth of packages, according to Security.org. The security system analysts found that apartment renters experience package theft at double the rate of those who live in single-family homes.

To avoid becoming a package-theft victim, experts recommend that you schedule their delivery on a day you’ll be home. You can sign up for tracking notifications from a retailer, UPS, FedEx and USPS to remind you of the date and time of an expected delivery.

If you can block the visibility of your front door by parking your car in the driveway, that might help keep porch pirates at bay, Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

If you know you won’t be home when a package arrives, LAPD recommends that you ask a trusted neighbor or friend to look out for the package and pick it up for you. Some delivery companies also offer the ability to change when and where a package will be dropped off.

You don’t have to have your package delivered to your home. Many retailers offer the option to have an item shipped to one of their brick-and-mortar stores, and they usually offer pick-ups at a customer service counter or a designated parking space in their lot.

Amazon has pick-up counters or self-service lockers at retailers, grocery stores and pharmacies. FedEx can hold your packages for up to seven days at one of its retail partners, including FedEx Office, Walgreens, Office Depot and Dollar General stores.

If you stick with having your packages delivered and you won’t be home to receive them, there are an assortment of lockboxes and secure, oversized mail slots available, although they can be costly. Alternatively, you can install a security camera or doorbell with a built in webcam, but that won’t necessarily stop the theft. Instead, it can gather the evidence needed to obtain a refund from the shipper and share with local law enforcement.

“If a specific area is being targeted and everyone makes a report, it shows police where porch thief issues are occurring and will allow them to deploy resources accordingly,” Madison said.