It's Cyber Monday, so that means you'd better go and buy some stuff online or else you'll have missed out on all the deals and everyone will point and laugh at you.
As it turns out, you're not alone, as plenty of other people will be joining in on the cyber fun by shopping around to find some bargains and get their Christmas shopping out of the way without having to interact with any pesky humans. According to projections from EMC Ireland, we'll be spending around €22m online today alone.
That's a 17% increase on last year, and combined with the Black Friday sales that took place at the end of last week (and most of the weekend), it's shaping up to be a good Christmas for retailers, who are predicting that we'll spend €3.9bn this December, up 2% on last year.
However, Jason Ward of EMC Ireland warned that, while we're out shopping for a bargain on Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, we should be extra-vigilant for cybercrime. Speaking to Newstalk, Ward added "Online shoppers should carefully inspect each website for signs of fraud: a suspicious URL or lack of secure encryption at the payment processing screen—often represented by a padlock or shield icon in your address bar—are red flags that the site is not safe and is a potential scam. Trust your instinct and go elsewhere if you are not convinced".
He also urged those shopping on mobile devices to only download apps and software from trusted publishers and websites, and to remember that if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.
Via Newstalk
