November 26, 2019
T
he Florida Attorney General’s office has released a holiday shopping guide to help consumers during the busiest shopping season of the year.
This year’s Holiday Consumer Protection Guide offers safety tips for online shopping, avoiding identity theft and ensuring any donations are to legitimate charities, as well as information on 2019 product recalls.
The publication includes the following advice:
Use a credit card instead of a debit card for online transactions, if possible. Both methods allow for charge disputes; however, with a debit card, the purchase is immediately deducted from the bank account and may take days or weeks to reverse the charge.
Ensure the web browser being used has a secure connection before submitting payment information while ordering online. A padlock should appear in the address bar if the session is secure.
Review any charitable solicitation carefully by searching online to see reviews of the charity or checking with the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance to see if there are any complaints against it.
Watch out for similar sounding charities. It is not unusual for sham charities to choose names that sound like other legitimate charities.
For more tips, access the full 2019 Holiday Consumer Protection Guide here.