The Indian e-commerce market is booming because of frequent acquisitions, and more and more Indian customers are switching from traditional retail shopping to online shopping. These include payment methods such as Mobile Banking, Debit/Credit Cards, Mobile Wallets, UPI, etc. This necessitates a growing demand for understanding how to protect online payments.

While technology has made managing our daily costs easier, every innovation also has its cons. This surge in digital payments has increased the risk of cybercrime, as new users and those less tech-savvy do not take all the necessary precautions while using Internet Banking. Here are a few guidelines to remember when doing financial transactions over the internet.

Secure website

From the mailbox outside your house, anyone can look through your mail. If you log in to an unsecured website, anyone sniffs around your internet connection. And if someone examines your connection for an extended period, they quickly get access to any data you send, receive, or save on that site.

Most social networks, email services, and other services use https, a safe and secure protocol, to avoid this security breach. Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol over Transport Layer Security is the other term for it. It includes end-to-end encryption of all data sent between your computer and the website's servers.

A green padlock icon in the left corner of the address bar is the most prevalent indicator. In other words, search for 'HTTPS' than 'HTTP' at the start of the URL in the address bar. To make a bill payment ensure to use secure connections as it makes things easier for you.

Reserved email ID

If you shop online frequently, it is best to set up a different email address for that purpose. Maintain a clean and clutter-free email account. This way, if you get a malicious email on your primary email address with suspicious promotional offers, you can recognise them immediately away. Use a banking app to make any online payments.

Payment notifications

If you do not have the SMS notifications feature activated, it is recommended to do so as soon as possible. Your money in your Savings Account gets protection, but if there are any fraudulent activities, the bank compensates you for any losses incurred, as per RBI requirements.

Avoid public computers and Wi-Fi

Never use a public computer, like cybercafé, to do UPI payment transactions. Also, since Wi-Fi networks are unprotected, never utilise them for financial transactions. As there are no keys or passwords to enter the network, anyone can join it. Hackers gain access to such networks and steal your personal information.