For many elderly people, shopping online can be a great way to maintain some of their independence if they can’t get out on their own very well or are living in assisted living. However, because people of older generations likely aren’t as familiar with the digital life as their younger family members, there can be parts of online shopping that could be hard for elderly loved ones to understand and protect themselves from. Luckily, you can take it upon yourself to teach them these kinds of things.

To help you with this, here are three things to teach your elderly loved one about online shopping. 

Only Make Purchases From Your Own Device

If your elderly loved one is going to be making frequent purchases online, it’s best that they have their own device in which to make all of these purchases.

While they may not want to use smart devices for other purposes and feel like they’re fine sharing with others or using a library for computer use, if they are going to be putting their bank information into a device to make a purchase, it’s much safer if they are the only ones using this device so that no one can use their saved card information to make additional purchases. 

Be Wary Of Deals That Seem Too Good To Be True

For people who are trying to sell something on the Internet, or just use the Internet to make money, it’s possible for them to trick consumers into thinking that they are getting a great for something when that isn’t really the case. And while some younger people can recognize this, many older people have a hard time telling what could be a scam from what could be real.

Knowing this, as a good rule of thumb, teach your elderly loved ones that they should be wary of online deals that seem too good to be true. Because in most instances, they are. 

Only Buy From Trusted Sources

Something else that you should encourage your elderly loved ones to remember about online shopping is that it’s going to be safest to only buy things from trusted sources. 

While it can be good to shop from small businesses at times, it might be best for your elderly loved one to only shop from retailer that they know and trust from the real world, as then they won’t have to take it upon themselves to do additional due diligence to ensure that they’re buying a quality product from a reputable business. 

If you want to help ensure that your elderly loved ones don’t get taken advantage of or have their money used for malicious purposes online, consider using the tips mentioned above to help them learn some safety guidelines for online shopping.