CYBER GANGS TO FLEECE 6M BRITS DURING WEEKEND
Shoppers warned to increase online security
SIX million bargain hunters risk being targeted by cyber crooks this weekend.
Consumers were warned to beef up online security as hackers prepare to plunder £700million from unwary shoppers through internet scams, fake websites and targeting weak passwords.
Attacks are tipped to peak as the weekend’s £8.2billion spree by 24 million bargain hunters ends in an online consumer frenzy on Cyber Monday.
A quarter of British shoppers have been victims of online fraud in the past year, hit for a total of £4.6billion, according to cyber security firm Sophos.
Many were tricked through bogus emails and websites but most were targeted after failing
to take basic precautions to protect themselves. Comparethemarket.com’s Simon McCulloch said: “Six million Brits are at risk of fraud over the four–day shopping period, with Cyber Monday a peak time for hackers. Banks and retailers must do their best to protect customers.” Retailers rang up £2.44billion yesterday as Black Friday kicked off the biggest shopping weekend of the year. More people were shopping on their phones, with half of Argos orders made this way yesterday, up from 40% last year, while at Currys PC World it made up 61% of sales. Debenhams and Game Digital’s websites crashed on Thursday evening, ahead of the frenzy, while Carphone Warehouse said it got 14 orders per minute on its site.
Banks and retailers must do their best to protect their customers SIMON MCCULLOCH OF COMPARETHEMARKET.COM