Here’s how you can protect yourself – 5 minutes

Icon picture

Icon picture

The cold season is the peak season for online fraud: promotional days like Black Friday represent a welcome opportunity for cybercriminals to use fake offers and websites to scam citizens out of their money.

from Philip Plattner

2 minutes reading time(381 words)

In recent years especially, fraud has largely shifted to the Internet. “Digitalization has now become an integral part of our purchasing behavior and has dramatically improved our shopping experiences through online shopping and online payment services. However, just like in real life, there are black sheep online as well.” State Secretary for Digitalization, Florian Turski. Last year alone, 27,629 cases of online fraud were reported. “23.1 percent increase.” But how can you protect yourself from something like this? Using a counterfeit store detector, Turski explains. This is what emerged from security research.

This is how you can download Fake Shop Detector

Anyone looking for online deals on Black Friday can protect themselves from fraudulent online stores with Fake Shop Detector. The software scans each online store with the results of a database of legitimate and fraudulent online stores maintained by experts. You can download the counterfeit store detector from the Internet here, then click on “Add to browser”. You may still have to click on the “Allow extension from other stores” message so the plugin can be installed.

“Security research programs pay off”

“This year we have once again opened a call for tenders for security research with a funding volume of €19 million. Tools such as Fake Shop Detector show how successful our security research programs are. Useful tips and information on how to protect yourself from the risks of fraud when shopping online can also be found here Measures to protect yourself from cybercrime range from technical tools such as a counterfeit store detector to using secure payment methods and checking questionable websites based on your fingerprint. If this is not checked, this is a warning sign.

“It is advisable to use common sense.”

As part of the Digital Competence Offensive, the new cybersecurity podcast “Web of Trust” presents what users need to know about online fraud, hacking attacks, other cyber threats and data protection in reports, self-experiments and with exciting guests. The first episode talks about counterfeit shops and how to protect yourself from them. “In addition to all technical assistance, it is always advisable to use common sense, because offers that seem too good to be true are usually fraudulent,” concludes Tursky.