NEW YORK - The International Trademark Association (INTA) urged consumers to be vigilant as they begin their online holiday shopping season with the deals and bargains being promoted for the upcoming Cyber Monday shopping day. This year, Cyber Monday is November 30, according to the Association.
Last year, Cyber Monday sales exceeded $840 million in the US, a 15% increase over 2007 numbers, and according to the National Retail Federation, more than one-third of retailers will offer extra incentives this year to entice shoppers to start even earlier.
As shoppers begin their spending for the 2009 holiday season, several phishing scams, which illegally use trademarks that consumers trust to try to extract personal financial information, are showing up in email inboxes. Deceptive pop-up advertisements on retailers’ transaction pages are also confusing consumers into spending more money than they originally intended. These two practices pose the greatest risks to Cyber Monday consumers.
“This holiday shopping season is going to be unpredictable at best, and consumers are watching every dollar that they spend. There are many great deals online, but there are significant dangers as well, and they come in the form of phishing emails and pop-up ads vying for your money and personal financial information,” said INTA Internet Relations Manager, Claudio Di Gangi. “If ever there were a year to guard your spending, this is it – and we want consumers to be aware of the risks on the Internet.”
Consumers can safeguard their online shopping by:
1. Looking closely at the domain name, or “URL,” of a web page. If consumers make an error and land at an unintended site, they should retype the desired website address.
2. Using Internet search engines to find online stores and merchants.
3. Looking for an authorized retailer logo on a website if unsure about the authenticity of goods.
4. Paying extra attention to links and offers sent via email or pop-up advertisements
5. Reporting suspicious websites to appropriate parties, including the company whose trademark is being abused, as well as organizations like the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov/complaint).
The International Trademark Association (INTA) is a worldwide association of member companies and firms that support and advance trademarks and intellectual property as elements of fair and effective global commerce.
