While shoppers are scouring for sales revving up for Cyber Monday, the shopping fever must not dull their vigilance as pernicious phishing scammers are waiting in the wings, according to Check Point Software.
According to Webloyalty’s recent study, shoppers are expected to spend 11 per cent more during this Cyber Monday—a 5 per cent compared to the previous year. With last year’s supply chain issues resolved, Cyber Monday sales and participation are predicted to skyrocket.
Unfortunately, this also sounds like a golden opportunity for cybercriminals to take advantage of fatigued or over-enthusiastic shoppers. This is especially relevant to the UAE, replete with extremely mobile-centric consumers
Country manager at Check Point Software Technologies in the Middle East, Ram Narayanan, said: “Cyber Monday is a great opportunity for many people to get services and products they need at a great discount, although they should also be on the alert to cyber scams, phishing and specially discounted offers.”
Check Point Software Technologies aims to raise awareness among potential shoppers to remain cautious with their Cyber Monday purchases as they dive into the ocean of captivating deals.
As an example, in the most recent data from Check Point Software referring to Amazon Prime Day, shoppers can see how the number of pages related to the term amazon and phishing attacks using this company for their nefarious ends has grown.
Demonstrably, close to 1,900 Amazon-affiliated web pages were created— 10 per cent of which were fraudulent. Last year, in the run-up to Black Friday, there was a whopping 178 per cent jump in malicious web stores worldwide.
It is not just websites that shoppers must be alert to as phishing is another persistent threat. Just this week, Check Point Software released a report that illustrates how transport and package courier companies are used to impersonate identities for unleashing phishing attacks. This is directly related to Cyber Monday, as many of the purchases are arranged online and delivered by parcel companies, making it more likely for people to fall for a scam.
To guard people against scammers, Check Point Software provides some safety tips in time for the peak shopping season.
Shoppers should stick to authentic and reliable purchase sources. The ideal scenario would be finding the link used by the store from which we want to purchase the product in the search engine.
Otherwise, clicking on a link sent to potential shoppers via emails without tracing its origins could be dangerous.
Cyber Monday shoppers should be wary of similar domains: it is vital to pay close attention to the links and domains of the web pages we enter. Genera misspellings or misspelt names are red flags.
Deals that appear too good to be true may be precisely what they seem. To avoid this, shoppers should check several sites to ascertain that their offer is genuine. More often than not, an unusually high discount on a highly sought-after product could indicate a scam.
Another trick is looking for the padlock- websites that have HTTPS instead of HHTP are authentic and secure sites. Equally important, they will usually have a padlock in front of them to distinguish them from the others.
Have security solutions for endpoints: you should also have such security solutions for your email. With this measure in place, plenty of cyberattacks and information leaks could be thwarted
Be attentive to password reset emails, especially when the volume of online traffic is exceptionally high, such as on the occasion of Cyber Monday. Should you receive an unsolicited password reset email, always go to the website directly to change your password, steering clear of the links.
“In this type of online offer days, many cybercriminals try to impersonate companies involved in such specials, such as delivery companies or stores. You need to continue to practice vigilance so as not to fall for the scams online, even as you enjoy,” said Mr Narayanan.
