Cyber Monday is on the horizon, meaning customers and brands alike are gearing up for the start of the festive shopping season. Black Friday follows Thanksgiving in the USA, with Cyber Monday following after that weekend to offer more big-ticket discounts. Having started Stateside, this trend has now caught on globally. 

A host of great offers are up for grabs following Thanksgiving in the USA, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday catching on globally as major shopping events. 

It’s a growing trend seen across retail that brands and stores offer their best deals at this time of year. Shoppers benefit from more choice and greater convenience for you. But the retail frenzy also creates more opportunities for cybercriminals to take advantage of people hopping from site to site, looking for the best deal. 

This guide is your practical, three-phase playbook to get the bargains without risking your personal data.

Spotting the Stores From the Scams

There are two key considerations before you even think about purchasing. Be mindful of the site you’re on and how you got there.

Scammers won’t wait for you to land on a fake site. They’ll send text messages and emails (phishing attacks) containing links, hoping they can reel you in. These messages might pose as well-known stores or your bank and urge you to take action. 

Seen a great deal on email or text? Visit the retailer’s website directly and see if you can still find it. 

And once you’re on a site, verify it by checking the URL starts with “https” (the s means secure) and check for a padlock icon in the address bar. 

Securing Your Transaction

Using a credit card offers some protection against breach of contract or misrepresentation via Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. Your credit card company is legally responsible for purchases between £100 and £30,000 if the retailer fails to deliver what you paid for.

But you’ve found a legit offer on a legit site; great! What’s next?

If you can, avoid paying for anything while connected to an unsecured public Wi-Fi network. Snoopers can sit on these networks and intercept details that pass across them, and are likely to increase their activity at these times of year. 

If you’re on the move and you spot an offer that’s time-limited, use your encrypted mobile data or find a way to make your connection invisible, like a virtual private network.

VPNs scramble your online activity data, making it harder for hackers to decode it, thereby keeping your transactions safe. What’s more, there are plenty of great Cyber Monday VPN deals, so you can save twice over!

Monitoring After You Buy

It still pays to remain cautious in the days and weeks after Cyber Monday if you’ve picked up some big-ticket deals. 

• Keep an eye on your online bank statements. Any small transactions you don’t recognise could be hackers siphoning off your funds. 
• Turn transaction alerts on. Get notifications of any outgoings from your account so you can verify if it’s expected. 
• If you suspect foul play, contact your bank immediately. The quicker you flag up potential fraud, the better your chances of getting your money back.

Focus on the Bargains This Cyber Monday 

If you’re planning a big purchase, holding off until Cyber Monday can be a great way to lock in huge savings. But don’t undo all your bargain-hunting brilliance by overlooking cybersecurity. Setting yourself up for secure browsing and having a checklist of red flags to look out for means you can simply grab a great deal with peace of mind.