Ulster Bank is urging online shoppers to be on the lookout for more than just bargains this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with criminals increasingly targeting unsuspecting shoppers on some of the busiest e-commerce days of the year.
Ulster Bank's annual fraud survey, which questioned 927 online shoppers, shows an increased awareness when it comes to safely buying goods online.
75% of those surveyed said they felt that they had taken all the necessary precautions to shop safely online, but 19% said that they would click on a link if it promised them a great deal, down from 23% last year.
64% of respondents also said they would often or occasionally click through to a webpage without really thinking about if they are secure. This is down from 82% in 2019.
With this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales moving mostly online due to the Level 5 restrictions, 20% of respondents who shop online said they plan to spend more online this Black Friday than they did last year.
26% said they believed that they will spend less online this year.
50% of respondents who shop online said that they will do more Christmas shopping online than in store this year.
Today's survey also revealed that 50% of all those who shop online said they use three or fewer passwords for all their online services, with just 23% setting a different password for each service.
38% of those who shop online also admitted that they hade received a notification that their password has been compromised in a security breach.
More worryingly, Ulster Bank said that 22% of 18-24 year-olds admitted that they had shared their online banking pin with someone either verbally, via text or online.
But 72% of those aged 18-24 said they changed their online passwords at least every 12 months, with 31% making a change every 4-6 months.
This compares with just 46% of people across all age groups changing their passwords at least once a year.
One in three of those surveyed said that they had never changed their password.
The survey also showed that 21% of people said they would be embarrassed to admit to their friends and family that they were a victim of online fraud - this rises to 48% among 18-24 year-olds.
40% said that they last reviewed and/or updated their security software on their computer or mobile phone in the past three months, with 17% responding that they last did so more than a year ago.
However, over one in ten (11%) admitted that they have no security software on their phone at all.