UK Populace has reportedly lost £1000 last year on an average and the figure is said to double up this year, as Christmas shopping period has arrived a week before. So, security experts are urging online shoppers to be extra cautious while buying products online and not fall for cyber frauds or Ponzi schemes.
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued a playbook on how the shoppers should browse on websites and what to do and what not, while buying gifts for their near and dear ones. The reference material was offered after a surge was witnessed in fraud figures reported to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) since November 1st of this year.
According to a press update released by NFIB, a total was £16 million was lost between November 2021 and January 2022, with most of the victims being young shoppers who fell prey to criminals who were busy trapping bargain hunters.
So, all of you out there looking for best deals during the Black Friday and Thanksgiving that fall on November 25th,2022, and November 24th,2022 respectively, better be cautious while shopping.
- Buy goods and services only from websites that display HTTPS, as they offer secure payment gateways and have valid SSL certificates
- Be very careful while downloading new apps for shopping, coupons and deals
- Always enable 2FA for financial transactions processing
- Never shop on devices connected to public networks, as they can be intercepted with espionage or credential stealing tools.
- Create a 14-18 character passwords to add security to your online account passwords are hard to guess. And make sure it is filled with characters that are a mixture of upper and lowercase letters tucked with 2-3 special characters.
- Never post sensitive details of social media accounts, as hackers are always on prowl on such networks sieving for potential victims.
