Who doesn’t love a good deal? Every year on Black Friday, shoppers flock to high streets, shopping centres and the online market to score everything from groceries to TVs for hugely discounted prices.
But Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday, are also big days for scammers and opportunists. In fact, incidents of fraud increase by 22% on Black Friday, with the average shopper losing £970. Particularly with Christmas just around the corner, this would be a devastating amount of money to lose on a deal that really was too good to be true.
That’s why it pays to take precautions. Our top tips on how to be cyber-savvy on Black Friday will help to keep you protected while you shop.
1. Don’t be credit card-afraid
Many people are wary of credit cards, but when it comes to protecting you while shopping online, they’re far superior to your debit card.
Purchases made on your credit card are usually protected, meaning that if your item never arrives you can claim back the cost through your card provider. This isn’t the case for debit card payments, which aren’t covered under the Consumer Credit Act (though in certain cases you could make a ‘chargeback’ claim).
If the worst happens while you’re shopping online and your credit card bank details are stolen, your main bank account will still be secure.
2. Don’t make things easy for cybercriminals
When you’re shopping online, you want to make it as difficult as possible for cybercriminals to gain access to your bank account(s).
Most banks offer two-step verification to make it harder for thieves to penetrate your account, whereby a code is sent either to your email address or phone after attempting a login. This extra layer of complexity helps to keep your account secure.
Ensure that you’re not using the same password for all your accounts. Lots of people do this to avoid having to memorise several different passwords, but having a unique password for each of your bank accounts is of paramount importance. The first thing a cybercriminal who’s successfully managed to access your bank account is likely to do is seek out your other bank accounts to see if they can also gain access to them.
3. Think before you click
If you’ve purchased a few items on Black Friday, you’ll have received more than a few order confirmation emails.
Cybercriminals know this and will use it to their advantage by targeting you with fraudulent phishing emails, posing as legitimate retail websites and delivery services. Once you click into the email, you may be redirected to a realistic spoof website before being prompted to enter your bank details. Or, clicking the email link may begin to download malware onto your phone or computer, which can then give cybercriminals access to your sensitive information.
That’s why it’s essential to be mindful about what you click on, even if you are expecting order confirmation emails or similar. Remember: think before you click.
This is an example of a message sent; can you spot the red flags?
- Does the sender email address look authentic
- Generic nature of the email
- A sense of urgency, and/or threatening to encourage you to follow link
- Request for payment
4. Only buy from trusted websites
It goes without saying that you should only make purchases from websites you trust, but scammers have become very adept at crafting websites that look legitimate and are often nearly identical to the copied source (e.g. Tesco) – but, of course, they aren’t.
You might not think that you’re the type of person to fall for these scams, but anyone can become victim to a phishing attack.
To make sure the website you’re planning to purchase from is legitimate, check that its web address begins with ‘https//:’ which indicates that a website is encrypted (and therefore secure).
If you want to purchase an item or service from a lesser-known company online, make sure you’ve vouched for its legitimacy on a trusted consumer review site like Trustpilot or Feefo, which will helpfully show you an average customer rating of the site.
Personal and Commercial Cyber Insurances from Towergate
If you would like to discuss options for Personal and Commercial Cyber Insurances available, please speak to your usual local Towergate representative.
Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.
