We kick off the new year with expectations of sales, but beware: a dangerous wave of fake e-shops is spreading on the internet.

The thriving online marketplace holds boundless opportunities for businesses and consumers. But lurking beneath the surface of convenient digital transactions is a persistent threat: ecommerce fraud. Consider the unsuspecting customer who stumbles upon what looks like your online store, snags a coveted deal, and enters their payment details—only to find out later that a fraudster has stolen their financial data from a spoofed website.

Cybersecurity researchers at Group-IB have identified a single scam campaign leveraging over 1500 websites impersonating postal carriers and shippers leading up to Christmas this year. Scammers are always taking advantage of those current trends that involve the potential for heightened emotions. During tax season it’s tax returns. During the NBA’s Final Four, it’s about sports betting or tickets to the game.

A credit card skimmer is a device that is attached to an actual card reader by a threat actor. Skimmers are commonly used by cybercriminals at non-bank ATMs and at gas station fuel pumps. Most skimmers installed at fuel pumps are placed outside of the view of the station administrator. Threat actors use skimmers to scan the information on a victim’s debit or credit card so they can commit credit card fraud or create counterfeit cards to sell on the dark web.

Read also: the US disrupts ALPHV/BlackCat operations, a NY engineer admits the hacks of two crypto exchanges, and more.

Tech scams are continuing to grow in scale and damage. According to CBS News, Americans have reported over $2.7 billion in losses to tech scams from social media alone. Further losses are being accrued through other sources, too, of course; but with that figure coming from one source, alone, the scale of the problem is laid out quite clearly. As more of the nation moves to a digital-first footing, these attacks are only likely to increase in volume, and scale, too.

When shopping online, you want to feel 100% sure that the service you are handing over your details is safe and secure. One of the most popular payment methods for online shopaholics is PayPal. However, is PayPal safe, and how secure is it when checking out online? Throughout this article, we will discover 15 of the most common PayPal scams and online fraud scams to watch out for and how to avoid them.

Midstride in this year’s holiday shopping, it’s important to realize just how many websites exist that impersonate legitimate online retailers. More importantly, your users need to know how to spot these types of attacks before falling victim.

Researchers at Bitdefender warn that scammers are tricking victims with fake remote job opportunities. In this case, the scammers tell victims that they’ll get paid for liking YouTube videos. Notably, the scammers send the victims a small amount of money (around six dollars) to gain their trust. After this, the victim is invited to a Telegram channel, where the scammer offers to give them much higher-paying tasks if they pay an entry fee of between $21 and $1,083.

Roughly 20 percent of all retail sales occur online. This statistic may sound lukewarm now, but e-commerce is rapidly becoming the lion’s share of global transactions. However, the model’s incredible growth also provides criminals ample opportunity to steal from online businesses. The absence of a physical location removes much of the criminal’s risk, and new strategies constantly pop up. A robust fraud prevention strategy should cover the majority of business operations.