While “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving – is known as the beginning of the holiday shopping season when retailers go from “red” (posting a loss) to “black” (turning a profit), online shoppers recognize “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Black Friday – as the beginning of the online holiday shopping season.

However, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also the beginning of the holiday season for cyber-criminals looking to commit identity theft and fraud. According to the 2009 State of the Net Survey from Consumer Reports, online scams that included identity theft and fraud cost consumers $8 billion over the past two years.

As a result, security technology company McAfee, Inc. is warning online shoppers about “The Twelve Scams of Christmas” that could lead to identity theft and fraud during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season.

To protect themselves during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season, McAfee offers consumers tips on how to avoid identity theft and fraud and steer clear of “The Twelve Scams of Christmas” that could make their holidays a little less happy. Each of the following are examples of ways cyber-criminals can trick consumers into giving away personal and financial information in order to commit identity theft, fraud, and other crimes:

In order to avoid identity theft, fraud, and other scams during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season, McAfee advises online shoppers to protect their computers and personal information by: avoiding suspicious e-mail links; updating security software; shopping on secure networks; changing passwords, and; using common sense.

In other words, if a deal seems “too good to be true” during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season, it could lead to identity theft and fraud instead.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading provider of consumer requested “personal” background checks that allow consumers to keep their private information up-to-date, accurate, and safe from identity theft and fraud. To learn how personal background checks can help prevent identity theft and fraud during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

Last week I wrote about an unfortunate incident where a person was fired over Facebook for an unruly update. Well forget that for a while because your unruly update could lead to your house getting robbed (via Mashable):

The concept is backed up by recent statistics from British insurance and investment management firm Legal & General, whose survey found nearly 40% of social networking users share holiday plans on sites like Facebook and Twitter. They also found about 13% of Facebook users and 92% of Twitter users tend to accept friend requests or follows without checking up on the source.

Of course, on Twitter that’s default behavior. You have to actively go out of your way to block someone, and the social culture is infused with an ethos of openness and public updating. On the flip side, surely there is some gray area emerging as we culturally get used to the ramifications of “living out in the open” with increasing frequency. It takes some getting used to, and until we’re more widely savvy about it these kinds of events will continue to be learning experiences.

The ramifications of living your online life out in the open is starting to come into play. The question remains if people are going to react and actually start living a bit more privately or if it will take some major crimes to convince people to not keep such an open network.

What are some things you can do to protect yourself?

1. Don’t allow stranger to access your personal information. Things like addresses and phone numbers can be used to trace you and figure out where you are at.
2. Use discretion when posting real time updates. You can always post pictures and updates when you are back home.
3. Be aware of other people’s information and keep a close eye on anything suspicious. Like an online neighborhood watch.