With Black Friday sales already available, online holiday shopping is kicking into full swing. But it's not just shoppers who are gearing up—scammers are getting ready to take advantage of the season, too.

According to the "2024 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Holiday," nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers report being targeted by a scam while holiday shopping online. Additionally, more than half (53%) of Americans are worried about Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping scams. Norton, a consumer Cyber Safety brand of Gen, encourages people to prepare to safely shop online this holiday season and bolster their defenses against cybercriminals and scammers.

Norton's data also reveals that online-shopping concerns have risen since last year:
- 71% of U.S. consumers are concerned about their personal details being compromised, up 8% YoY.
- 59% are concerned about being scammed by a third-party retailer, up 9% YoY.
- 59% are concerned about AI shopping scams, up 11% YoY.

Tread carefully with discount codes
With the costs of many goods on the rise, everyone's looking to stretch their holiday budgets a little further, resulting in 87% of U.S. online shoppers spending extra time to look for discount codes. However, it is important to be aware of the information you offer to gain access to these deals, as it can lead to significant privacy risks. When you enter personal details, such as your name, email or payment information to redeem a discount code, that data could fall into the wrong hands if the website is not secure. Some scammers also create fake promotions or clone legitimate retailer websites to trick consumers into submitting their information, which they can then use for identity theft, financial fraud or to sell on the dark web.

Norton discovered that two thirds (67%) of people have taken some action to receive a discount code. Of these deal seekers, 57% signed up for a mailing list, 39% answered a survey and 30% liked a post or posted on social media. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of people were willing to give personal information including their email (91%), phone number (52%) or home address (35%).

According to Norton, malvertising and adware are the cyber threats that increase the most dramatically during the holiday season. During last year's holiday shopping season, Gen data reveals a 53% increase in malvertising attacks – malicious ads often seen by consumers when searching for something such as sales. Adware – malicious software often distributed via malvertising – increased by 227% over the same period.

To stay safe, try to find codes directly from the retailer and not third-party providers. Consider using an alternative email address that you don't typically use for daily, personal life.

Use discretion with social media ads
Despite general distrust in social media sites, shoppers continue to click on social ads to purchase holiday gifts. Thirty-seven percent of Americans have purchased a holiday gift from a social ad, with these buyers mainly purchasing through Facebook (60%), Instagram (48%) and TikTok (40%).

Clicking on social media ads can expose people to unnecessary risks such as phishing attacks, malware infections and privacy breaches. Fraudulent ads may lead to fake websites that steal personal information or payment details, and some may download harmful or malicious software onto your device. Despite these risks, 20% of people are still willing to click on a social media ad or email claiming to offer a gift.

Keep these scam tactics in mind while shopping online this holiday season, carefully vetting any deals that seem too good to be true.