The Netherlands’ bol.com has seemingly something for everyone and is the country’s leading online store for books, toys, and electronics, along with so much more.

It does so much business in a single day that hackers and cybercriminals are constantly trying to infiltrate its pages and swipe information from Dutch users along with those who use the site internationally.

If you are a one-time or frequent user of bol.com, you should consider enhancing the security on your personal device anytime you are buying something from this mega-store.

A Brief History of Bol

Founded in 1999 by Bertelsmann, it became known as Bertelsmann Online, and eventually shortened to Bol. It has changed hands three times since then, and is currently owned by the Dutch Koninklijke Ahold N.V. which bought the property in 2012.

Bol is more than toys and electronics; it also offers computers, music, DVDs, books, software, and computer and telecommunication accessories. It celebrated its 20th year in business in 2019.

Bol.com experienced its first large-scale case of online fraud in December 2012 when it was part of a large scale botnet attack that gobbled up thousands of user names and passwords from the like of Bol, Amazon, and Walmart. These were found to be sold on the Dark Web. Buying them would allow any person to log onto bol.com accounts and have free reign over their credit card information and personal information.

Other stores, such as Overstock, have been hit with spammers who set up clones of their home pages then sent phishing links to customers to direct them to the fake page. Customers unwittingly enter their user names and passwords into the clone page and the scam artists are able to record the keystrokes and make off with their real credentials.

Try a VPN for Extra Security Shopping Online

There are lots of tips and tricks you can try to make your shopping experience online more safe. Only trust sites that have an “HTTPS” classification in their web address and never use public WIFi to shop; only use trusted connections.

If you can, don’t shop with a debit card either, as bank accounts generally are the slowest to respond to charges of fraud and usually the slowest to pay it back to your accounts as well. Try a credit card or an online payment solutions instead to enhance your personal financial security.

Another outstanding way to secure your connection is the use of a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs establish an encrypted connection between your computer and a remote server which you then send all Internet traffic to and from using a different IP address than the one assigned to your computer.

The encryption makes it impossible for any third party to see what requests you are sending or what pages you are viewing online.

How to Use a VPN to Shop on Bol.com

Once you’ve done research on which VPN is the best for you, the following steps will have it active the next time you want to shop on Bol.com.

1. Download the VPN’s client app to your Internet device of choice.
2. Install the VPN client app following the online directions.
3. Open a new connection and select a remote server that best suits your needs – speed, security, low number of users on the server.
4. You can verify that the connection is secure by checking your new IP address against your previous one.
5. Begin browsing bol.com through the remote server.

Best VPNs for shopping online

1VyprVPN

VyprVPN is headquartered in Switzerland, which is the world leader in privacy laws as well as respect for Internet users’ privacy.

That makes it a perfect place to house a quality VPN ike Vypr, which has fantastic security features including: 256-bit AES encryption, zero-knowledge DNS, compatibility with multiple encryption protocol, and Vypr’s customized NAT Firewall for extra security.

Get it Now

2SaferVPN

Like Vypr, SaferVPN is headquartered in a privacy haven, Israel. It is a big-time player in the security department, with a kill switch, no-log policy, and no IP address collection.

SaferVPN is one of the best VPNs for the USA because it can unlock Netflix.  It also has more than 760 servers spread across 35 countries.

Get it Now

3Trust.Zone VPN

Trust.Zone VPN is a great bare-bones VPN for people first getting their feet wet in the industry.

It will keep you anonymous with its no-logs policy and has a kill switch, along with a really nice FAQ that can answer a ton of questions without you having to go to the help center.

Get it Now