Not enough for us at the Christmas market, is the Advent everyone is always open weekends? No. Crowds everywhere, online marketplaces flashing the counter: only here and only now! 70% or even we’ll pay you if you buy! Buy! Buy more! In fact, it’s not even Friday anymore, it’s the season.
The marketer wakes up in the morning, the sun is shining, it’s still 30 degrees and maybe a sunstroke will give him the idea: let’s have Black Friday 1-2-3 weeks earlier, and you can see from the moon how the sales will increase due to the sales. The warehouse, logistics and all the courier services will be sweating blood. They are left with the black really black. And shoppers won’t even want to remember the origin of the name, the broken windows, the injured, the chaos, where even crying children are clinging on the backs of the action-hunting shopper for discounts. Long gone, USA ’50s.
So we start the Advent season, and then the mad consumerist frenzy lasts until Christmas. Last year saw a record number of purchases registered during this period, and it looks like this year will be no different. Christmas is a celebration of love and the month before is a celebration of the love of shopping.
Of course, it’s not just on the shelves of shops, there will be increased traffic on the servers of online shops. Cybercriminals will also come with their best offers. Discounted viruses, free botnets, discounted keys to ransomware, cheaper SPAM. The conscious shopper will try to avoid these, but there are bound to be some nasty surprises among the masses of sensational offers. One of the worst parts of this is that, like mum and dad, young people and children see this as an endless opportunity to save money, which can also be used as a feeding frenzy. They too will be hurt by the empty box of a smart phone bought at a non-existent 90% discount, the pocket money that has been transferred to infinity as the price of a superhero doll and ended up in the offshore account of a cybercriminal group. Older people also gamble riskily, sometimes blindly, with their pensions on offers that are already on waste products, but now instead of ten thousand, you can buy a degenerating smart blade, a pair of reading glasses that go dark, for half price, for fifteen thousand, only here, only now. You like it here, please sign here, no robot, right? Here you can enter your credit card details, and now the code you see after the beep on your phone… Thank you.
Let’s talk to the family about the impact of advertising, unnecessary shopping, the cyber-fraud businesses that are springing up and generating serious revenue, the use of our data – our payment data – and the need to be careful and savvy when using the internet. It’s good for everyone to know that the marketing approach is the same as the scammers’: ‘Only here, only now! Right now, without thinking!” It’s not easy to spot a scam. One involves a product, the other involves only the sad experience of the victim.
Of course, don’t miss the good offers. Many people can shop smart at lower prices at this time, but
- pay attention to the details of the offers
- avoid unknown online marketplaces and websites
- for larger amounts, ask someone to look at the offer
- use a credit card or payment method designed for online purchases, with limits
- prefer virtual cards that are easily interchangeable
- shop together, even with family members
They may seem small, but they can save us from fraudsters – and not just online.
In the long run, I think we’re better off if we cut back a bit on the convenience of shopping, the thrill of getting the star deal, and focus on conscious, sensible internet use. Instead of celebrating consumerism, let us concentrate on security, and instead of acquiring gadgets that are often unnecessary, let us prepare to create a truly cosy atmosphere for the holidays.
