As 62% of holiday shopping will be online and consumers are estimated to spend $586.1 billion over the next six weeks, it's important for shoppers to be vigilant when it comes to online safety.
Everyone is looking for a deal over the holidays and as Black Friday brings its own plethora of deals, fraudsters are taking advantage of our vulnerability.
If you look back to the fraud trends of 2011 as published by the CIFAS in January 2012, there was:
- An 18% increase in the fraudulent use of a victim's bank account, credit card, phone or other financial tool
- A 9% increase in overall fraud levels during 2011
- Losses in excess of £1.2 billion to identity fraud
Companies like McAfee and advertSAFE are trying to reduce online fraud and identity theft through online tools and education. According to a recent infographic released by McAfee, cybercriminals are looking to take advantage of shoppers with scams such as fake promotional ads, malicious mobile apps and social media scams.
Online retailers can help build consumer trust by:
- Providing user reviews
- Making contact details easy to find
- Offering alternative payment methods
- Providing trustmarks and info on security and privacy policies
To back that up, here are McAfee’s 12 Scams of Christmas to help you stay safe from possible scams during the upcoming sales season.
Reader comments (2)
Digital Marketing Executive at Koozai
4:42PM on 20th November 2012
What a nice way to highlight these risks, this is the sort of thing that needs to be published in newspapers so people who are less tech-savvy understand what to look out for too.
The problem with this though, is that items like 9 leave a lot to the interpretation, it might scare some users in to only ever using amazon without giving things that users should look out for.
Editorial Director at Econsultancy
6:31PM on 20th November 2012
Hi Anna - thanks for your comment. It is important for people to understand what to look for. For instance, here's a piece we wrote about what customers should look out for on ecommerce sites: http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/2537-establishing-customer-trust-dos-and-don-ts
I've also added it into the article above.
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