Digital Shopping Scams Rose 12% Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday — Protect Your Money for Remainder of Holiday Season
The average incidence of suspected digital shopping fraud during the Cyber Five days — the days from Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, through Cyber Monday, Nov. 27 — was up a whopping 12% in the U.S. compared to the rest of the year, according to a new analysis from TransUnion.
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This was also 18% higher than the same period in 2022.
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“The rise is not surprising. Just as the ‘Cyber five’ early shopping holiday period is a peak time for consumers, it is also an active time period for digital shopping scams, with significantly higher digital fraud attempts during this time period than during the rest of the year,” said Cecilia Seiden, vice president of the retail business at TransUnion.
Seiden attributes this increase to four key drivers. First, the belief in the ability to hide among the masses and more easily evade detection by merchants.
“With higher transactional volume, fraudsters expect retail employees and fraud teams to be more overwhelmed and therefore distracted, enabling account-takeover and fraud to be more easily missed,” she said.
Second, it’s easier to scam consumers when they are already in shopping mode and interacting with merchants. Using a variety of phishing techniques, fraudsters attempt to scam consumers into transacting with them instead of the real merchants.
Third, fraudsters use stolen funds and cards to buy both big and small ticket items to resell on other sites, she added.
Finally, challenging economic conditions drive increased need and opportunity.
The TransUnion analysis found that 69% of U.S. consumers said they’re extremely, very or moderately concerned with being victimized by online fraud this holiday season — this is an increase from 64% in 2022.
According to Seiden, consumers are right to be worried, as studies have shown that almost every adult in the U.S. is targeted by a scam on nearly a daily basis.
Yet, she also noted that 69% for the U.S. is on the low side globally — the 3rd lowest number of 13 countries surveyed.
“All consumers should be wary and know how to recognize scams, as well as take steps to protect themselves from fraud during online shopping without relying solely on the protections provided by retailers, banks and payment providers,” she said, adding that this is especially critical during the holidays, when big promotions are great bait to lure consumers looking for the best deal — especially during a time with such a high cost of living.
How To Protect Yourself From Fraud
Seiden offered five tips for consumers to protect themselves from fraud during the holiday season:
Shop on sites you know and trust. “Also, consumers should seek out retailers and ecommerce sites that utilize security practices such as two-factor authentication to ensure payment information remains protected,” she added.
Have your guard up. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Use unique passwords and multi-factor authentication. “Use different and strong passwords for each website — password managers make this easy and relatively seamless,” she said. “Set up multi-factor authentication when available, typically using your mobile phone or email to receive a one-time passcode.”
Don’t give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn’t expect. If you get an email, phone call, or text message from a retailer prompting you for a response that involves giving personal information, do not answer. “Find the official customer service website or phone number and initiate contact yourself via a communication channel you know is official and legitimate,” she added.
Monitor your bank and credit card accounts. Check for any activity you do not recognize.
A Silver Lining
Seiden noted that the reason retailers loosen their fraud controls is because they’re concerned that any friction in the shopping experience will cause the consumer to abandon their purchase.
Yet, she added that if there’s any silver lining to increasing digital fraud, it is that consumers’ perception of security measures is evolving and becoming more favorable.
“We found that 59% of consumers view additional identity validation requirements during the check-out process positively, and only 4% view it negatively, wanting security to be invisible and to be able to complete their purchase quickly,” she said. “What perhaps was previously seen as an inconvenience and adding friction to a purchase, is now increasingly seen as a welcome sign of protection. As consumer perceptions evolve, retailers will be able to mitigate fraud and more effectively protect consumers.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Digital Shopping Scams Rose 12% Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday — Protect Your Money for Remainder of Holiday Season