Keeping your online payments secure, wherever your curiosity takes you

Finding the perfect gift for a loved one can be a bewildering experience. Whether you’re browsing the fashion pages or scrolling through experience days, online shopping can take us in some unexpected directions.

Being curious is part of the fun of shopping, meaning sometimes we can find ourselves discovering new things that we didn’t know even existed. Before you know it you’ve found that very thing, but sometimes you’re left questioning; is this deal too good to be true? Is this a brand I recognise? Will my payment be secure? What if they don’t like what I buy them?

Whilst online shopping offers endless possibilities, over 100,000 shoppers in the UK have unfortunately fallen victim to online shopping fraud since December 2020¹. That’s why we’re encouraging people to look out for the tell-tale signs of fraud, and know how to keep your money safe.

Using secure payment methods like your Visa card, gives you the confidence to embrace your curiosity online knowing you have protection when you pay. Visa’s state-of-the-art payment technology* evaluates 500 unique characteristics for every single transaction in real-time, checking data from more than 3.5 billion card accounts to spot unusual activity and flag them to your bank. What’s more, our Zero Liability Policy**, means that in the unliklely event that any unauthorised or fraudulent charges are made with your account, you won’t be held responsible.

Wherever your curiosity takes you, here are six ways to keep your payments safe online:

1. Find the right website – We suggest you check the websites you choose to visit for online shopping are secure. We also recommend checking if there is a ‘padlock’ icon in the search bar and if the website address starts with HTTPS (the ‘S’ indicates that it is ‘secure’!). Additionally, check that the name of the web page does not contain spelling errors or strange characters.
   
   
2. Check out the seller’s website and reviews – research the website, influencer, or the company that you’re purchasing from. It’s also worth looking at reviews to see how other people have experienced a business.
    
3. Pay it safe – No matter how you like to shop, you can feel confident using your Visa debit or credit card. Visa’s Zero Liability Policy** means you won’t be held responsible for unauthorised or fraudulent charges made with your account. Paying with Visa also puts you in a position to make a chargeback or “dispute” claim with your bank if an item never arrived or wasn’t as described, and the seller is withholding a refund.
    
4. Beware of phishing scams – Be careful of unsolicited and suspicious emails or phone calls. They may try to steal personal information like your account number, username and password. If in doubt, do not click on any links or download files.
    
5. Use “tokens” and one-click services to pay safely and easily – When you load your card into your phone, and when you load it into some merchant apps, your card data is often replaced by a digital “token” – meaning your card details aren’t stored, keeping them even safer. With some shops you can use one-click-payments which means you just need to set it up, prove you are the right cardholder, and then you can shop online easily without the need to insert your card details every time.
    
6. Use a safe, quick, and easy way to identify yourself – Stronger Customer Authentication (SCA) – part of a new industry regulation – means that banks will start to ask for more identification when you’re paying online – in an attempt to make sure the payment is coming from you, and not from a fraudster. If it’s an option, set up methods like fingerprints or facial recognition on your phones and within your banking apps.

To learn more about how Visa’s payment security technology and how it helps protect you from payment fraud online click here.

**Visa’s state-of-the-art technology uses artificial intelligence (AI) and sophisticated algorithms to help banks identify and prevent fraud before it happens. The Visa network evaluates 500 unique characteristics for every single transaction in real-time, analysing data from more than 3.5 billion card accounts to spot unusual activity. Visa’s AI technology helps to prevent an estimated $25 billion in global fraud every year², with fraud occurring in less than 0.1% of Visa transactions³ - among the lowest rates across all forms of payments.

**Visa's Zero Liability policy does not apply to certain commercial card and anonymous prepaid card transactions or transactions not processed by Visa. Cardholders must use care in protecting their card and notify their issuing financial institution immediately of any unauthorized use. Contact your issuer for more detail.

***Visa’s recommendations in this document are provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for marketing, legal, regulatory or other advice. Any recommendations should be independently evaluated in light of your specific needs and any applicable laws and regulations. Visa is not responsible for your use of the recommendations, or other information, including errors of any kind, contained in this document.

¹ Gov.uk, (December 2021), Public urged to protect themselves from online sales scams, accessed January 2022, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/public-urged-to-protect-themselves-from-online-sales-scams

² VisaNet Data

³ VisaNet Data