Steer clear of cyber fraud while shopping online
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received more than 880,000 cybercrime complaints from the public in 2023, marking a 10% increase from 2022. The total losses surged to $12.5 billion, compared to $10.3 billion the previous year. California, Texas and Florida reported the highest number of victims.1
In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Consumer Sentinel Network received over 5.4 million reports, with fraud making up 48% and identity theft 19%. Credit card fraud was the most common form of identity theft at 40.2%, followed by miscellaneous types, including online shopping, payment account, email and social media fraud, which accounted for 25.1%.2
Cybercriminals are constantly advancing their strategies to target online shoppers, making it crucial to know the risks and how to protect yourself while shopping.
Recently, a complaint was filed against National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, alleging a data breach in April 2024.3 The breach exposed sensitive information, including full names, addresses from the past 30 years, Social Security numbers and family details. The complaint also claims that NPD collected this data from non-public sources without consent and failed to protect it from unauthorized access, violating its legal duty.
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