Opinion.

Beware Black Friday Cybercrime

27/11/2015

At a glance

As shoppers peruse the deals offered in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this weekend, the police and cyber experts have issued warnings urging people to be vigilant against cybercrime. The warning comes in the wake of reports that cyber-thieves have ramped up campaigns to catch out retailers and shoppers during the run up to Christmas.

In detail

Get Safe Online, the organisation which offers free online safety advice, has stated that victims of online shopping fraud (both businesses and individuals) lost a whopping £16 million to cyber-thieves last Christmas. This represents a 42% increase compared with £9.5 million losses suffered in 2013, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday being the days criminals are most likely to strike.

There are a number of ways in which cyber-thieves can steal data, including:

  • Spam campaigns send emails to individuals containing special offers, linking to an unsecured website when a consumer in-puts their payment card details.
  • Sophisticated Modpos malware enables cyber-thieves to access data from an individual’s payment card when it is used in-store.
  • Fake copies of popular shopping apps facilitate theft of the shopper’s payment card data.

City of London Police, Action Fraud and Get Safe Online have issued joint advice on how to stay safe whilst shopping online, and details of how to ensure the payment website is a secure link. Details of the advice can be found here https://www.getsafeonline.org/christmas2015/.

Liz Kilburn

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