Local law enforcement shares online shopping safety tips ahead of the holidays

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren't here just yet, but holiday shopping certainly is. Online shopping has become the "new normal" due to the convenience and reliability, but just like any form of online use, safety concerns remain.

Websites like Amazon and Target are used because of their safety and reliability; however, a safety concern people run into during holiday shopping online is visiting unfamiliar websites.

Shoppers can get unlucky when the item they were searching for is unavailable online.

Buchanan County Sheriff's Office Detective, Capt. Thomas Cates is familiar with internet scams and is urging shoppers to be smart online this holiday season.

“Sticking with known sellers is the main thing that you want to do. If you're looking at a major retail site such as Target, you need to make sure that you're actually at Target.com or whatever the official website name is that you've been directed there from, usually by Google or some other reputable search engine,” said Thomas Cates.

Known sellers are the safest and most reliable option. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency(CISA), many of these websites have fake spoof sites, often accessible through spam emails or fake ads.

"You click on that and it takes you to a website that looks kind of like the normal retailer's website, but slightly different, or maybe you just get an odd feeling about it, or you can't verify that sale page on the retailer's traditional website, then it's most likely going to be a scam,” said Cates.

These look-alike websites are often a scammer trying to target shoppers for their information by offering fake items with too-good-to-be-true deals.