Shopping through an online store is very convenient. It is open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, there is no rush or need to move from shop to shop for a product, can make quick price comparisons, and above all, one can do all the shopping by sitting in the comforts of one's own home. No wonder, people in hordes prefer online shopping these days over conventional shopping that involves shop hopping. But how far you know that not all such shopping sites are safe for online transactions? With reputed shopping websites, you can take it for granted that the transactions will be safe from hacking or misuse. But, with lesser known names, it would be prudent to be a bit skeptical initially. Online frauds are on the rise these days and at least some of those newly marketed shopping portals could be indeed fraudulent ones. Hence, the customers must be doubly on guard while shopping online.

However, a recent cyber security study conducted randomly on customers had revealed that more than 67% of the people do not have any real idea about how to identify a secured site. This is a dangerous proportion as without knowing how to identify a fraudulent website, there is no way one could say whether a given shopping portal is a genuine one or not. The following paragraphs try to break this bubble of ignorance.

If you come across a shopping website that looks amateurish, has lots of grammatical and spelling errors, and the prices of products are relatively very low, then you must smell a rat. That could be a fraudulent website, set up there just to trick others and not for any real shopping assistance, or to sell poor quality products. If you feel any doubt about the genuinity of a website, you can check it out. Read the disclaimer, terms and conditions, see if the return policies, guarantees, and privacy protection are clearly mentioned, and if the contact information is provided in non ambiguous formats. It is also advisable to call in the given telephone number if you are still suspicious. If the response from the other end is not convincing enough, stop at where you are and go for other sites.

But a more technical method to see if a shopping website is genuine is to verify these three things on the checkout or order page - plural URL; a closed padlock or unbroken key; and the web address or URL itself. The ‘plural URL refers' to ‘https' instead of ‘http' at the beginning of the URL. An image of a closed padlock or an unbroken key at the top or bottom of the shopping page indicates that your shopping session is encrypted for added security. If it is an open padlock or a broken key that you are seeing instead in the website, assume that by shopping, you are taking a big risk as the session is not secured. Even though, there are no fixed rules to explain the apparent non-genuinity in the web addresses of a spammer, a URL like http:// This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it %6AD% is a definite indication that the website you have in front of you is a fraudulent one. Genuine shopping websites, anywhere in the world, never use a URL that starts with numbers.

If you stumble across any or more of these there discrepancies, assume that the website is not genuine and ignore such websites as such. Don't even try to open it ever again.

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