Cyber Monday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, following Black Friday, and since the reason for the sale day is to push online shopping, you should be particularly wary about hackers creating fake deals that seem unbelievably good. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Despite our best instincts, it’s hard to pass up a huge discount on an exciting present and as the year starts winding down to the end, the pressure is on to find a nice gift to give your loved ones for the holidays. This adds up to a perfect recipe for hackers to take advantage of eager shoppers with an enticing bargain.
Cybersecurity researchers at Seon have issued a warning that there could be as large as a 100% increase in fraud attempts today, so stay alert and skeptical of huge discounts. By comparison, Black Friday was expected to see a 57% increase in efforts to scam holiday shoppers. As noted by Tech Radar, Seon processes nearly as many orders on Cyber Monday as it does on Black Friday with nearly double the rate of declined transactions, a sign of trouble with a large number of these orders.
These scams usually start with a spoof email that looks like it comes from a legitimate online business or shopping website, offering incredible savings on top-rated products. If you click through to learn more, you’ll find a fake landing page that looks quite similar to the official website but is actually connected to a hacker’s account so that payments are sent to the cybercriminal instead of to the company you think you are ordering from.
The best way to protect yourself is to visit the website that you think the email is from by using a bookmark you’ve previously saved, typing the website address directly into the browser, or doing a web search for the company or product you want to order. That way you’ll know that you are on the authentic website that you want to purchase from. It’s great to enjoy Cyber Monday shopping but stay safe and don’t fall for any scams that might ruin your holidays.