How online shoppers are targeted by – and respond to – scams
Scammers are increasingly attempting to defraud online customers, and it is affecting consumer behavior.
According to the "2024 Norton Cyber Security Insights Report: Holiday" study, 62% of surveyed U.S. consumers are worried about being targeted by online fraudsters during this holiday season, while 53% are specifically concerned about Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping scams. Three-in-10 respondents say they have been targeted by a scam while holiday shopping online.
Out of targeted respondents, more than four-in-10 (43%) fell victim, to an online shopping scam. Three-in-10 report the scam happened on Black Friday, another three-in-10 say it occurred on Christmas, and 11% on Cyber Monday.
Other specific concerns respondents have about online holiday shopping include:
- Seven-in-10 (71%) are concerned about their personal details being compromised, up 8% year-over-year.
- Six-in-10 (59%) are concerned about being scammed by a third-party retailer, up 9% year-over-year.
- Six-in-10 (59%) are concerned about AI shopping scams, up 11% year-over-year.
The study also examined potential scam risks in several key areas of online shopping:
Discounts
Two-thirds of respondents have taken some action to receive an online discount code. Of these, 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 respondents were willing to give personal information including their email (91%), phone number (52%) or home address (35%).
This likely helped drive 53% year-over-year increase in “malvertising” attacks – malicious ads often seen by consumers when searching for something, recorded by Norton during the 2023 holiday season. Adware – malicious software often distributed via malvertising – increased by 227% over the same period.
AI chatbots
While 36% of respondents say that AI recommendations are helpful and could enhance their online shopping experience, 57% say they would abandon their carts if they could only speak with a chatbot rather than a human customer service representative.
Only 26% of respondents trust AI to handle their personal information securely, and 37% who have interacted with an AI chatbot while holiday shopping online report receiving inaccurate information.
Social media ads
Thirty-seven percent of respondents have purchased a holiday gift from a social ad, with these buyers mainly purchasing through Facebook (60%), Instagram (48%) and TikTok (40%). One in five are willing to click on a social media ad or email claiming to offer a gift, potentially exposing them to malware or fraudulent offers.
[READ MORE: Survey: Shoppers browse on social commerce sites, but shy away from purchasing]
U.S. respondent results are taken from a larger survey of 1,000 consumers across 12 countries conducted by Dynata on behalf of Norton parent company Gen from Aug. 30 – Sept. 11, 2024.
