Shop with caution everyone!
Cybersecurity experts say the days of safe online shopping for Black Friday are long gone, thanks to scammers, The Guardian reported.
Richard Horne, the chief executive of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) in the United Kingdom, now calls the retail holiday “Black Fraud Day,” as scammers look at it as the prime time to trick hopeful shoppers looking for a deal. “The festive season had become ‘prime time for cybercriminals’ as consumers hunted for deals,” Horne said.
“Fraudsters were targeting bargain hunters with increasingly sophisticated scams, sometimes crafted using AI, making them harder to detect.”
In addition, shoppers are urged to take caution when looking for online deals, as some can be deemed sophisticated scams. Gift cards, false delivery alerts, and social media ads are listed as some of the most popular. Faulty websites have been added to the top four. One website that looks like a popular retailer can be thrown off using a specific word like “the” in the beginning or adding “.shop” at the end.
To help fight these scam threats, NCSC is launching a public awareness campaign that equips and prepares consumers with the resources needed to protect themselves. Some of the campaign guidelines include implementing two-step verifications for online accounts, avoiding suspicious links, and doing research on the sellers, such as seeking reputable review platforms prior to making purchases.
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Source: Black Enterprise
