Six million Brits at risk of failing victim to cyber crooks in £700m fraud frenzy this weekend [Christmas 2018]

Six million Brits are at risk of failing victim to cyber crooks in a £700m fraud frenzy over the biggest shopping weekend of the year, experts have warned.

Today a whopping £2.44bn was splashed out, kickstarting an £8.2bn four-day pre-Christmas shopping spree.

But as bargain hunters flock online to find the best deals, experts told shoppers they must take extra precautions to beef-up their online security to protect themselves from being a victim of the crimes.

And they warned failing to do so - through a combination of internet scams, weak passwords and mistaking fake websites as genuine - could see online shoppers targeted to the tune of £700m, particularly those shopping online on Monday.

Simon McCulloch, director at comparethemarket.com, warned: “As more and more people choose to shop online, our money is made increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated cybercriminals.

“Six million Brits are at risk of fraud over the four day shopping period - with cyber Monday being a peak time for hackers.

“Banks and retailers must do their best to protect customers from fraud, not least because data compromises can lead to customers voting with their feet and switching accounts.

The warnings come after mobile phones took a key role in Black Friday as shoppers snapped up deals from their bedrooms, at the bus stop and on the train – rather than heading to the high street.

Argos said half of its orders so far had been made on a handset, up from 40% last year, while Currys PC World said 61% of their online purchases were made via mobile devices.

Debenhams and Game Digital’s websites crashed on Thursday evening, while Carphone Warehouse said it received 14 orders per minute on its site, with the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Apple iPhone XR being the most popular items.

And HSBC became the latest high street bank to report IT issues after customers were locked out of their online accounts on the busiest shopping day of the year.

A quarter of Brits in the last year have been a victim of online fraud - losing a staggering £4.6bn, figures from online security firm Sophos found.

Many were tricked through bogus emails and websites but most commonly from failing to take basic precautions to protect themselves.

GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre technical director, Ian Levy, advised: “Check if your account has been compromised in a data breach at haveibeenpwned.com before you go shopping.

“If you haven’t changed your password since one of those data breaches and you were involved, go change it before you do stuff.”

Head of public engagement Kate Sinnott, from GCHQ, added: “It’s really important not to have a password that can in any way be associated with you, be it your partner’s name, your child’s name, your street address.

"Anything like that can be guessed by criminals. Make it random.”

 She also advised against making an account with retailers so if a data breach takes place your information is stored on their site as well as having a separate “super-protected” password for your email account.

 If you think you have fallen victim she advised shoppers to contact their bank as well as “take note of what the website is, immediately close down your internet browser and report those details to Action Fraud. “

Kate added: “Unfortunately loads of people are falling victim to fraud, so it’s not you.

“But, if there’s something that’s making you feel uncomfortable or a little bit suspicious about the transaction, such as asking you for an excessive amount of information, take action quickly.”

A new Black Friday scam emerged last year, which included more than 32,000 malicious Black Friday-themed apps spoofing the branding of global online retailers. The apps tricked shoppers into entering credit card information or Facebook and Gmail login details.

Simon McCulloch, director at comparethemarket.com, also advised customers to make payments over £100 with a credit card which protects transactions “under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, so if you are a victim of fraud you should be able to get your money back.”