Beware of the 'Discount' Trap of Fake Sites!

Asst. Prof. Dr. İlker Korkmaz from Department of Computer Engineering, Izmir University of Economics (IUE) warned citizens against fraud incidents that may occur in shopping on internet sites under the name of ‘legendary discounts’. Stating that fraudsters are always developing new tactics in this period when internet shopping is increasing, Asst. Prof. Dr. İlker Korkmaz said that it is especially important to be careful against fake sites. Asst. Prof. Dr. Korkmaz said, “Pay close attention to discount messages and deep discounts. Let's not click on links immediately.”

Stating that fake sites have increased fraud incidents, Asst. Prof. Dr. Korkmaz said that citizens should keep their own information well. Reminding that the cases of creating fake sites are increasing, especially before November discounts and New Year's Eve, Korkmaz said, “Since discounts are currently on the agenda, we may receive messages on our social media accounts such as ‘Special discount for you in the last 1 hour available on this link’. When a product, which normally has a market value of 2 thousand TL, is offered for 100 TL, we can click on that link without thinking and fall into the trap. It would be meaningful to keep in mind the question 'Why unusual number, unusual discount for me?”

‘CHECK THE ADDRESS BAR’

Asst. Prof. Dr. Korkmaz continued as follows: “It is of course an advantage to use reputable, well-known sites for shopping, but those who make fake sites may already be trying to fake these reputable sites. There are two concepts such as HTTP and HTTPS. HTTPS is the one that provides secure communication. In this address bar, if we are going to make a financial transaction, we need to see HTTPS. Let's not move too fast. Are there spelling mistakes? Are there any strange, off-purpose things coming out? We need to look at these things.”