SONTIQ™ Issues Holiday Shopping Tips to Protect Against Identity Thieves and Hackers

Sontiq, an enterprise high-tech security and identity protection company, has released five tips today, along with additional Black Friday and Cyber Monday recommendations, to help consumers protect themselves from identity theft during the 2019 holiday shopping season. These tips can help safeguard consumers whether they are purchasing gifts on mobile phones, looking to keep their children’s identity safe online, or returning items.

• 5 Tips to Ensure a Safe Holiday Season can be downloaded here.
• Dedicated Resources To Protect Your Identity During Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping can be viewed here.

“The holiday season is a time for enjoying time with your family and friends — not a time to feel the sting of identity theft,” said Darrell Laffoon, CTO of Sontiq. “These are solid tips that consumers should keep in mind to protect their identity as they tackle their holiday shopping. It’s an ideal time to review these tips as December is Identity Theft and Protection Month.”
 
With the holiday shopping season predicted to begin earlier than ever and Cyber Monday approaching quickly — many have already begun to make their purchases online. A daVinci Payments poll of 675 women ages 18 to 75, reported that 47% of women expect to make more than half of their holiday purchases digitally and 45% will make more than half of their online purchases from their phones this holiday season. Here are five tips for consumers to protect themselves:

1. Take Precautions when Making Holiday Purchases with a Smartphone — Before you think of making a purchase through an ad on Instagram or Facebook, or even downloading a coupon, perform an Internet search about the ad you received for words like “complaint” or “reviews” and you may uncover a scam related to the promotional offer. 
2. Be Smart about Application Downloads — Be cautious about what you are downloading and pay attention to details. Scammers have been taking advantage of those signing up for subscriptions by luring them into a short-lived free trial that then converts into an expensive, recurring expense.
3. Protect Children’s Identity on Gaming Consoles — While children will be eager to play on their new console, be sure to review the rules and set up the system with them prior to them playing. It’s important to create a strong password that includes upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Make children aware that game masters will never ask for login information. Before purchasing a game online, make sure the URL of the web site begins with “https”; use a credit card instead of debit card. 
4. Return Fraud — Remember to take receipts out of your shopping bags when you are returning items. You can have personal information on those receipts that identity thieves can use to steal your identity.
5. Educate Tweens and Teens about Safe Online Shopping — Teens will be shopping online this year to buy holiday gifts for friends and family. It’s a great time to encourage teenagers to get a head start in protecting themselves from identity theft. Educate them on how to protect their bank accounts by managing passwords and using anti-virus software or internet security software.

About Sontiq
Sontiq, headquartered in Nottingham, Maryland, is a high-tech security and identity protection company arming businesses and consumers with award-winning products built to protect what matters most. Sontiq’s brands, EZShield and IdentityForce, provide a full range of identity monitoring, restoration, and response products and services that empower customers to be less vulnerable to the financial and emotional consequences of identity theft and cybercrimes. Sontiq is a portfolio company of the Wicks Group. Learn more at www.sontiq.com or engage with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube.
 
About Wicks
The Wicks Group is a private investment firm based in New York City that invests in lower middle market information businesses that create and deliver niche content and services to the business, consumer and education markets. Since its founding in 1989, Wicks has invested over $1 billion of capital in more than 30 platform companies and approximately 100 add-on acquisitions. The firm has applied a consistent investment strategy since its founding, partnering with high-quality, experienced management teams to build businesses organically and through acquisitions. Learn more at www.wicksgroup.com.

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