Now that the Govt is insisting the public to go digital for money transactions, hailing that as a progressive step. It is equally very important to have a look at safe practices for transacting online.
Often we use online transactions for paying our bills, shopping online, paying the premiums. We list some of the DOs and DONTs for safe online e-commerce transactions.
DOs
1) Double check the website's URL before you are paying online. For example, if paying by using SBI netbanking ensure that the URL is
https://www.onlinesbi.com.
See for the SSL green bar OR https in the URL.
 |
| website with secure https URL |
2) Always ensure that you are visiting the right website each time.
3) Always ensure that your netbanking, debit cards, credit cards, authorize the transactions using OTP. If not contact your bank for OTP authorization using SMS or secure mobile apps.
4) Ensure that your debit and credits are registered for "Verified by Visa" and "Master Card 3D secure"
5) Regularly change your PIN of credit/debit cards and passwords of netbanking portals.
6) These days many banks allow their customers to set spending limits on credit/debit cards. Using features provided by the banks set a proper spending limit on credit/debits cards, this will limit the damage in case your card's credentials are exposed to hackers.
7)Always clear your browser's history, cookies and close the browser after online transactions are done.
8) Use private/incognito mode of your browsers for online transactions.
9) When doing online transactions using mobile apps, ensure you use the right trusted applications obtained from official app stores.
10) Always update the browsers and mobile apps, especially those mobile apps on which you do online transactions.
DONTs
1) Never let your browser remember your netbanking username and password, credit/debit card numbers.
2) At POS terminals, do not reveal your credit/debit card CVV numbers. If possible hide the credit/debit card number as well.
3) Avoid transactions on websites which do not run on HTTPS and are suspicious at the first instance.
4) Don't install untrusted plugins and extensions for your browsers. Browser plugins, extensions, add-ons are usually are one the way to steal your private information.
5) Avoid online transactions at public internet cafes.