Watch out for online shopping scams and how to avoid them

Online shopping can offer many benefits during the busy holiday season. You’ll avoid crowds and long lines and easily explore the stores with the best deals – all from the comfort of your sofa. There’s just one catch: the proliferation of online shopping scams.

Unfortunately, Black Friday and other shopping holidays are “particularly tempting for fraudsters because people are already willing to spend,” they say The New York Times. “Recent data from Bitdefender showed that Black Friday-themed spam increased from just 3% of spam detected on November 9th to 22% on November 13th.” Here’s what to look out for.