The UK
government has warned bargain hunters to be extra vigilant when searching for
deals online this Black Friday and in the run-up to Christmas, confirming that cyber criminals netted more than £12m
online during the same period last year.
The UK
government issued the warning on Thursday, also revealing that its Action Fraud
hotline received more than 10,000 reports about active cyber scams last year.
Each scam reportedly earned the criminals an
average of £1,700 per victim.
Dave Clark,
detective chief superintendent of the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau,
highlighted scams masquerading as deals on technology products, like the Apple
iPhone and iPad, as being particularly problematic.
"Online
shopping has revolutionised the way we buy our Christmas presents, with each
year more and more people choosing to search for gifts over the internet rather
than heading to the shops. However, the result is that online fraud is top of
the festive scam list," he said.
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