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Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are prime drivers of scams – and Aussies will offer a lot of information in the name of a bargain.
Australians are facing an ever-growing tsunami of scams, with nearly 33 per cent of all Australians experiencing some form of online shopping scam in the last 12 months – an increase of 7 per cent over last year.
Of those, one in three were targeted while looking for Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. This is an alarming figure, given Australian habits when it comes to sales.
According to the results of a new survey looking at Australians’ spending habits for the period, it appears Aussies are keen to give up a lot of information if it will secure them an apparent bargain.
NordVPN asked shoppers in Australia about their plans this sales season, alongside bargain hunters from the UK, US, and Canada, and found that 90 per cent of Australians are willing to part with some form of personal data to secure a bargain.
First name and email address are the most commonly shared pieces of data, with 55 and 58 per cent of people willing to share those details with a prospective seller. Thirty-six per cent of people are willing to share their last name as well, while an alarming 42 per cent share their birthdate as well.
Thirty-four per cent of people share their phone number, while the figures start to drop off at that point. For instance, only 20 per cent of shoppers are willing to share their home address and 19 per cent their job title.
Still, 5 per cent of those surveyed revealed they would share their credit card details, and 4 per cent their children’s names. An even more keen cohort of bargain hunters would even share their tax file number, though that is only 2 per cent of those polled.
Adrianus Warmenhoven, cyber security expert at NordVPN, has some advice for Australian shoppers this season.
“We have seen in the past that cyber criminals become very active during the shopping season, so 11 million Aussies who plan to take advantage of the deals this year should better be on guard,” Warmenhoven said in a statement.
“The main thing we encourage people to remember this shopping season is if the offer looks too good to be true or a lot of personal information is requested for you to get a deal – you are probably being scammed.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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