Black Friday shoppers could lose £30 million as hackers target those with weak online security
Shoppers could lose a record £30 million to online fraudsters this weekend as criminals plan their biggest ever Black Friday bonanza, according to security experts.
Millions of bargain hunters are expected to go online to take advantage of generous Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales as the Christmas shopping season gets into full swing.
But specialists based at GCHQ have warned that this year could see the largest ever wave of online fraud as criminals seek to take advantage of lax security by people shopping online.
In 2017 consumers reported losing a total of £16 million in the run up to Christmas, a 45 per cent rise on the previous year.
More than 15,000 people contacted the City of London Police's Action Fraud centre to report having been ripped off, equating to a loss of more than £1,000 each.
But it is though 2018 will prove an even bigger pay day for criminals, who are becoming ever more skilled at hacking into people's online accounts.
Many victims of fraud and hacking do not bother reporting the offence to the police, either through embarrassment or because they are able to recover their losses from banks.
Some estimates have put the figure for this year's losses as high a £30 million, with tens of thousands of unwary shoppers likely to fall victim.
Ross Brewer, vice president at cyber security firm, LogRhythm, said hackers were like "wolves in sheep's clothing".
He said: “In only a few short years, Black Friday has become a significant event in the British retail calendar, effectively stretching out the Christmas shopping period by a couple of weeks.
"However, it’s important to realise that retailers are not the only parties that profit on Black Friday. As merchants’ email marketing campaigns ramp up ahead of and during the Black Friday weekend, cybercriminals will also spring into action.
"Like wolves in sheep’s clothing, thousands of phishing emails offering bogus discounts will make their way into inboxes amongst genuine offers, with cybercriminals hoping the recipient will click on a malicious link."
Hackers operate in a variety of ways but often rely on consumers simply failing to adequately secure their accounts with complex passwords.
Dr Ian Levy, the technical director of GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, said shoppers should think twice about what information to give online stores, especially when answering security questions.
He said: "It might be a legitimate thing to ask, it might not be malicious, but it's just not worth taking the risk.
"If they are using this for your account security they won't care what you put in. So don't give them your mother's maiden name. Give them the name of your first cat.
"If it's a criminal and they try and use your first cat's name as your mother's maiden name they are not going to get very far."
And he also warned against signing up for accounts with retailers when shopping, advising people to use the guest option when going to the check-out.
He said: "Try not to make an account. Unless it's an existing relationship you've got with a retailer, where you want to buy stuff from them long term, I wouldn't bother making an account just for this weekend.
"Unless you have to give a retailer all your personal information I wouldn't, because if they are not holding it, the next time they are breached they can't lose your data."
Earlier this week the online retail giant Amazon suffered a major data breach that caused customer names and email addresses to be disclosed on its website.
The company later issued a statement saying the problem had been fixed and those affected had been informed.
