Beware of fake advertisements and websites on Cyber Monday

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) -Everyone loves a good shopping deal, but on Cyber Monday some deals will not be real.

Kelvin Collins, President and CEO of Better Business Bureau of Central Georgia, said you have to be careful when you shop on Monday to avoid someone stealing your credit or debit card information.

“When you see a pop up, that’s trying to lure you to another site that can be a red flag for you. Use trusted sites,” Collins said. “If you’re looking for a deal from a particular store, don’t go into just the search engine to look for that deal, go to the actual store that you want to shop.”

And if you get an email from your favorite store with an unknown link, don’t click on it.

“Many times those links will get hijacked and you’ll go to a site that looks like the store that you’re wanting to shop, but it’s really just another site, just to capture your credit card information or your bank account information,” he said.

You can check to see if a website is secure by looking for https. Collins says the s stands for secure, so your card information will be safe.

“Also a lot of times down at the bottom you’ll have a little lock or some symbol that shows that it is a secured site,” Collins said.

He said you can keep your information safe by using a credit card instead of a debit card.

“Don’t use a direct bank account or debit card because if that credit card information gets stolen, you can dispute that without it affecting other things,” Collins said. “But, if you use a debit card, or your bank account you’ve just given scam artists a direct pipeline into your checking account.”

Collins said you can also use a preloaded gift card if you don’t have a credit card.

Collins said he plans on shopping with the millions of Americans on Cyber Monday, but you must keep your eye out for scammers, so your money is safe.