Being wary of online shopping scams

Online shopping scams can be easy for people to fall for, and criminals use methods that can be increasingly difficult to spot, leaving people open to fraud and theft.

Given that personal contact details were affected by the Virgin Media data leak, the issue of scams and fraudulent contact were things that people need to be wary of. We will talk about this a little bit more below, but if you want to sign up for a case and find out if you are still in time to join our action, please complete a few forms on our website here now.

Online shopping scams come in many forms

It is important to be wary of online shopping scams, as they can come in many different forms. It only takes hackers being able to steal a little bit of information from you and they could try to target you with fraud and theft in various different ways.

For example, if they know your name and email address, or your name and telephone number, they could contact you to try to commit online shopping scams by trying to direct you to fraudulent or fake copycat websites. They can do their best to make such websites look completely legitimate, so you may think that you are shopping with the actual company you intend to. Unfortunately, when you enter your details or perhaps sign up for an account, they could then see everything that you are entering. They could then try to use your login credentials to try to break into other accounts if you reuse the same passwords and usernames, or if you enter payment card data to make purchases, they could try to steal money from you directly.

Ultimately, hackers can make themselves look incredibly convincing when they try to dupe people into handing over information or allowing access to accounts. Everyone needs to be very wary, as anybody could be targeted, and it can be easy for people to fall victim to scams.

How those affected by the Virgin Media data breach can be affected

We briefly talked today about online shopping scams as this is something that could be related to the Virgin Media data leak that was identified in early 2020. In this privacy event, the contact details of some 900,000 people were left exposed online for a period of 10 months. During this time, we know that at least one unknown third party is understood to have accessed the information.

The contents of the database had enough information for hackers to try to contact people with things such as phishing scams we have referenced above. All they would need to do is try to direct somebody to a fake copycat website, and they could even do it using Virgin Media as the website itself.

This is why we often say that even a little information can go a long way for hackers to try to exploit. We cannot rest on our laurels and simply assume we are safe when what may be deemed as just a little bit of personal information is misused or exposed. Even a little bit of information can allow hackers to try to exploit you.

Find out if you can still join our group action today

We are several years into our group action where we represent thousands of people claiming compensation as victims of the Virgin Media data leak on a No Win, No Fee basis.

To find out if you are still eligible to pursue a case and join the action, please complete the form on our website here now.

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