Black Friday: Shoppers warned of scams as they lost £15.4m last Christmas | UK news

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There was a 17% increase in shopping scams reported during last year’s Black Friday season, with victims losing an average of £538, a bank warned in a report.

A survey by Barclays found that more than half (59%) of Britons will switch up their usual behavior while searching for good deals this holiday season, with 38% planning to shop at Black Friday sales around November 26.

Nearly a fifth of Black Friday shoppers (18%) said they felt pressured last year to buy items as quickly as possible, and 14% said they would shop on unfamiliar websites if they had particularly good prices.

It comes as Action Fraud, the National Fraud and Cybercrime Reporting Centre, said online shopping scams were ‘bargains’ which turned out to be too good to be true for the £15.4m shoppers over Christmas. last year.

Last year, the center received reports that 28,049 shoppers were defrauded of their money while shopping online during Christmas, an increase of nearly two-thirds (61%) compared to the previous year.

“If you think you’ve found a deal too good to be true, you probably have,” said Pauline Smith, Director of Action Fraud. “Stop and think before making a purchase, because it can protect you and your money.”

“Always shop with official retailers and follow our simple tip to enjoy your online shopping safely and make sure you’re not left empty-handed this Christmas.”

Criminals earned £2.5m during the Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday sale events last year, with an average loss of around £550 per victim.

The Mortar Research survey of 2,039 UK adults in October, conducted in October, revealed that 12% of consumers would give their PIN to someone if they thought they were from their bank, and 25% were more likely to help if asked for Fraudulent involvement in an “internal banking investigation”.

About 43% of those aged between 31 and 40 said they would transfer money to a “secure” account if they thought their bank required them to.

And 35% of those aged 31-40 and 23% of those aged 21-30 said they were most likely to hand remote access to their laptop or bank account to someone they thought was a bank employee.

Ross Martin, Head of Digital Safety at Barclays, said: “While Black Friday and Internet Monday sales are a great opportunity for consumers to get a bargain, they unfortunately create an ideal opportunity for scammers to target shoppers. Once and use the details collected in the first scam to attack again.

“If you get a call from someone from your bank asking you to do any of these things, hang up and call back either on a trusted number or by calling 159 – the fraud hotline. Please don’t ignore your concerns – if you” If you’re ever unsure, take your time to check.”

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