Five tips to beat online scams

Over a quarter of online scams happen in the run up to Christmas, with victims losing an average of £893(N401, 850), which is more than double the average festive spend. With many Britons spending more than £400 (N180,000) on Christmas, fraudsters are on the lookout for unsuspecting shoppers buying presents over the internet.  The Nigeria’s […]

Over a quarter of online scams happen in the run up to Christmas, with victims losing an average of £893(N401, 850), which is more than double the average festive spend. With many Britons spending more than £400 (N180,000) on Christmas, fraudsters are on the lookout for unsuspecting shoppers buying presents over the internet. 

The Nigeria’s Minister of Communications Barrister Adebayo Shittu said Nigeria lost $450million to recent cyber-attacks on the country.

A total of about 3,500 cyber-attacks occurred recently in Nigeria, 70% of which were successful, which led to a loss of about $450 million, Shittu said at an event recently.

“The recent data from NITDA shows that there were a total of about 3,500 cyberattacks in Nigeria, 70% of which were successful, which led to a loss of about $450 million”, he said.

He said the prevalent of electronic commerce and online malls was giving cybercriminals opportunity to attack unsuspecting Nigerians.

He appealed to IT security professionals to secure Nigeria’s cyber space in order to attract investments into the country. 

He said if Nigeria’s cyberspace is safe, investors would come; e-commerce would be given much priority; and most transactions would be done without stress and above all, the quality of life would increase.

On how much work the government and retailers have to do to get shoppers up to speed on scams, 38 per cent of more than 2,000 people surveyed by Barclays said they would not know how to identify a secure website online.

In the run up to Christmas, scammers are expected to haul in £1.3billion across the UK over the festive period, with online retailers losing £72million in revenues. Nearly 60 per cent of shoppers said they do not feel safe buying online, particularly in the run up to Christmas.

Samantha White, who leads Barclays’ work to keep customers safe from fraudsters, said: ‘While families across the UK are preparing to enjoy the festive season, criminals are getting ready to pounce on anyone who lets their guard down.’

The huge surge in cyber-crime increased the total value of fraud that reached the UK courts in 2016 to over £1billion, separate data published by KPMG published earlier this year revealed.

How to beat the scammers 

Shopping online can be a bit of a minefield, but follow the following five tips and you’ll enjoy a safer shopping experience:

1. Look out for the padlock symbol and ‘https’ in the address bar on retailers’ websites

2. Watch out for deals that look too good to be true

3. Never use public Wi-Fi to purchase Christmas shopping online

4. Never give out your PIN or online banking password – legitimate websites won’t ask for it.

5. Keep an eye on your bank balance so that you can spot and report fraudulent transactions quickly.