With Black Friday set to kick off this Friday, which will see over half of us take to the web to get the best deals, Kaspersky has launched an all-new interactive tool that will help consumers identify the difference between a deal and a dupe site.

The tool will help educate buyers on the differences between a legitimate website, and dupe websites, carefully-disguised cyberthreats, when making online purchases. This comes as Kaspersky researchers reveal that there has been a  increase in e-commerce cyber-attacks in the past year, whilst Black Friday and seasonal shopping days like Cyber Monday see the likelihood of financial phishing attacks

Consumers can use the tool here to educate themselves on the key warning areas to look out for – and some general tips for shopping protection are here:

• Invest in a robust cybersecurity solution to protect all your devices you use to shop online.
• Use unique, complex passwords for every online account.  If this seems too difficult, make a password manager the first thing you treat yourself to this Black Friday.
• Use extra caution when using your mobile device for online purchases. Shortened URLs, often used because they are phone-friendly, can hide the fact that they lead to a risky site. If you must make a transaction then and there, switch Wi-Fi off and use mobile data. Otherwise wait until you are back on a secured connection.
• Avoid shopping on websites that appear suspicious or flawed, no matter how great their Black Friday deals are.
• Don’t click on unfamiliar links you receive in emails or social media messages, even from people you know, unless you were expecting the message.
• Reduce the amount of funds you have in your bank and online accounts or use a pre-paid card for online payments. The greater the balance, the more can be lost to fraudster.
• Restrict the number of attempted transactions on your bank card.
• Turn on and always use two-factor authentication (Verified by Visa, MasterCard Secure Code, etc.)