According to Wales Online, More than 10 million Brits have fallen victim to online shopping scams, it has been revealed, as 19 million UK shoppers prepare to embark on the biggest bargain hunts of the year. Research from cybersecurity company NordVPN has shown that 20.7% of UK adults have been scammed while shopping online — equivalent to 10.6 million people. Millions of UK consumers are prepared to offer up a treasure trove of personal information in exchange for an extra reduction or freebie — and those who have already been scammed are at the front of the queue. Of those who have previously experienced a scam, many admit they’d still be prepared to hand over a bunch of bizarrely irrelevant information to get a big discount or freebie. One in ten (12.1%) would hand over their credit card details, 4.3% would give their National Insurance number and one in ten (11.1%) would reveal where they worked. A further 3.9% would even reveal their children’s names for the chance to bag an extra bargain. Those willing to disclose their credit card number were 57% more likely to have been scammed, while people willing to hand over their NI number were 40% more likely to have been victims. All told, 94.2% of scam victims are still willing to hand over at least some personal data to land a bonus gift, discount or free service.
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.