How to avoid losing money on holiday online shopping: tips from Rakuten Viber
On the eve of the Christmas and New Year sales, Rakuten Viber warns of the increase in online fraudsters and publishes a list of tips to help users shop safely online.
On the eve of the Christmas and New Year sales, Rakuten Viber warns of the increase in online fraudsters and publishes a list of tips to help users shop safely online.
Advice for buyers is provided in the Rakuten Viber press release, where the service team reminds: the main protection against attackers begins with a careful check of the seller and the site. It is worth paying attention to the appearance of the page, the presence of contacts, correct product descriptions and a domain with the secure https protocol. If there are no texts or they are full of errors, and the page looks «as if it was put together in a hurry», this is a reason to think and look for another store.
If sales are conducted through social networks or messengers, it is worth checking whether the business has other official platforms and a website, as well as checking for verification. On Rakuten Viber, verified business profiles have a blue check mark next to their name — this helps distinguish a real company from a one-time fraudulent page.
A separate risk area is payment. Where possible, the service recommends choosing cash on delivery. If the seller insists on prepayment, it is dangerous to send money directly to a stranger’s bank card or follow «left» links to confirm the order. It is safer when payment is made through well-known payment services such as WayForPay, LiqPay or Portmone, which act as an intermediary and do not disclose the buyer’s card details to the seller.
A transparent return and exchange policy is also important. Reliable stores usually have clearly stated return terms, while fraudulent sites either avoid this topic altogether or limit themselves to vague wording.
Another verification tool is reviews and ratings. They can be found in separate sections of the site, in product comments, or in pinned stories on social networks. The complete absence of reviews or suspiciously identical «sweet» comments with a high probability indicate that you are either dealing with a newly established or unreliable seller. On marketplaces, you should look at both the rating and the number of reviews, giving preference to those who have been working for a long time and have a history of transactions.
Rakuten Viber reminds you: never share logins, passwords, one-time verification codes, full card details or photos of documents — neither in correspondence nor in forms on unfamiliar sites. No honest store will ask you to «send a code from an SMS from your bank» in the messenger.
A separate danger signal is a «space» discount. If the product costs about the same everywhere, but is sold much cheaper in one store, this may indicate a fake or a fraudulent ad. Before paying, it is worth spending a few minutes and comparing prices from other sellers.
To protect against intrusive or suspicious contacts, Rakuten Viber itself offers built-in tools. The «message requests» function sends all requests from strangers to a separate folder, where you can immediately delete them, block the sender, or report them. And «caller ID» on Android marks calls from unknown numbers as potentially safe or dangerous and suggests who may be calling.
The company urges not to relax even in the pre-holiday hustle and bustle: basic attention to detail, checking the seller, and your own security settings in the messenger are often the difference that separates a successful New Year’s order from the loss of money and data.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Rakuten Viber analyzed the most common scenarios that annoy Ukrainians when using the messenger, and told how they can be avoided.
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