A leading consumer expert has shared her top tips for avoiding being scammed or having your bank account emptied by cyber criminals when shopping for Christmas on Black Friday this week.
Jane Hawkes, the founder of Lady Janey, warned that consumers have to be on high alert for online scammers who try to cash in on one of the busiest days in the year for retailers.
Hawkes explained: “Cyber-crooks are bombarding consumers with emails that are designed to trick them into revealing sensitive information like banking and credit card details.
“In the past few days, banks, building societies and online retailers have issued warnings as the nation gets ready to spend.
“Data released by Action Fraud revealed that there were more than 16,000 reports of online shopping fraud during last year’s festive season.
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Consumer expert Jane Hawkes is sharing her top tips to avoid being scammed while shopping
GETTY / JANE HAWKES
“Many fraudsters rely on text and email messages that appear to be from legitimate businesses but contain links to fake websites that are designed to harvest bank logins and credit card details.
“The process is known as phishing and the mobile phone firm Three said it received over 3,500 complaints about fraudsters over the last holiday period.
“Cyber security firm Bitdefender estimates that 77 per cent of Black Friday-themed spam emails are scams, while Barclays says the average loss on a shopping scam is £700.
“Attackers are becoming more creative: They are now tailoring their tactics and messaging for greater appeal to different groups of shoppers in specific demographics and regions.
“These are organised cyber criminals sending billions of messages using tactics that include phishing emails, sophisticated malware attacks, and the impersonation of popular brands.
“Beware, for example, of ‘dear customer’ emails and messages warning that a package has been delayed and asking you to click on a link to confirm your details.
“There are even kits that can be bought on the Dark Web that allow criminals to set up very convincing but fake online banking portals, so the stakes can be very high.
Here is Hawkes advice to shoppers on how to avoid scammers this Black Friday:
Scammers are targeting consumers this Black Friday
GETTY
- Do your research with due diligence – the devil is in the detail, make sure you check it. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Trust your gut feeling.
- Check reviews before purchase – watch out for any which are overly complimentary and with similar wording. This could be a sign of a scam outfit as opposed to a genuine endorsement.
- Be wary of any red flags – super cheap pricing, urgency to make time pressured decisions, unknown companies, lack of contact details on websites and websites which don’t function correctly, misspelling of website urls or item descriptions.
- Check unfamiliar domain names on Who is?
- Pay for purchases via credit card for maximum consumer protection.
- Set up alerts with banks and providers so you are alerted if there is any activity on your account or your card is being used.
- Have different passwords for your online accounts. Once a scammer works out a password they can easily try it on all of your accounts.
