Tips for shopping online safely this holiday season

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Record numbers of online orders are being placed this holiday season, which means hackers are on the prowl for your personal information.

From Black Friday to Christmas Day, many customers are turning to online shopping and hackers are taking advantage of this.

"Make sure you know it is a reputable online seller, and if not, refrain," said Lt. Jim Munro with the Clovis Police Department.

When placing those online orders, make sure you're using a secure WiFi.

"Hackers can get access to that information if it is a public WiFi," said Munro. "They'll use what they call a sniffer to grab your information in cyberspace so you want to be careful there."

Always use your credit card instead of your debit.

"The credit card companies will always cover for fraud or loss whereas a debit card, that's coming straight out of your bank account and typically that's not covered," said Munro.

Better yet, experts say it's best to use Apple pay.

"Whether making those purchases online or in-store, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay is a very smart way to pay these days," said Munro. "It's very secure and a very small amount of fraud using those payment system."

Finally if you do fall victim to a crime, report it to the police.

"We do solve these crimes, we do arrest identity thieves on a weekly bases," said Munro. "It could go unsolved, but there's a high likelihood we'll make some arrests."