The National Cyber Security entre (NCSC) has warned shoppers to remain vigilant against online scammers during the festive season ahead of Black Friday.

According to data from the reporting centre Action Fraud and the NCSC, people in Britain lost over £11.5 million to online criminals between November 2023 and January 2024, with each victim losing £695 on average.

This compares to reported losses of around £10.6 million over the same period of the previous year.

Across 7,000 reports of fraud, around 43 per cent mentioned a social media platform, with online marketplaces being mentioned in almost 19 per cent of cases.

The NCSC added that the average age of a fraud victim over the period was 42.

To combat the rising threat of fraud, the NCSC has launched a nationwide campaign to encourage people to set-up two-step verification on their most important accounts.

The NCSC added that cyber criminals often create false urgency by using limited-time offers or promoting offers which seem scarce to push people into making purchases quickly without thinking.

“Unfortunately, this is prime time for cyber criminals, who exploit bargain hunters with increasingly sophisticated scams – sometimes crafted using AI – making them harder to detect,” said NCSC chief executive Richard Horne. “To stay protected, I strongly recommend following our online shopping guidance, including setting up two-step verification and creating memorable but secure passwords using three random words.”

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