With Black Friday and the holiday season just around the corner, millions of people will be spending money online. However, it is essential to keep yourself and your credit card information safe to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime.

A new study by Surfshark, one of the best VPNs, found that more than 5.7 million card details have been compromised worldwide since 2004. This data includes card numbers, expiration dates, and card verification values (CVVs) (three- or four-digit numbers found on the back of credit and debit cards).

Twenty-eight percent of the compromised information is the CVV security code, which is essential for verifying transactions. Leakage of this code poses a substantial risk because it could be used to authorize unauthorized transactions.

Similarly, 33% of the card information compromised was card expiration dates. While these cannot be directly exploited on their own, when combined with other details, they increase the risk of cybercrime.

Surfshark analyzed data from the top 10 largest economies in the world where consumers are most likely to spend. The U.S. topped the list with 773 breaches per 100,000 population; the U.K. was second with 248 per 100,000; and Canada was third with 225 per 100,000. Germany, Japan, and China had the fewest breaches, with 15, 5, and 1 per 100,000 people, respectively.

The United States, the largest economy, stands out as the country experiencing the most breaches: since 2004, over 2.6 million payment cards have been compromised in the U.S., almost half of the world's total. One-third of these compromises involve CVV codes.

According to the FBI, the U.S. received nearly 14,000 complaints about credit card fraud in 2023 alone, resulting in nearly $174 million in losses. Over the past 10 years, more than 71,000 complaints have been registered in the U.S., leading to losses of more than $740 million.

Scammers prey on Black Friday buyers, and studies show that fake stores and scam attempts increase from October through the end of the year; according to a 2023 NordVPN survey, one in four Americans who have been scammed while shopping, Black have been scammed during shopping events like Black Friday, which amounts to 34 million people.

Scammers use phishing sites and fake stores to trick you into entering your card information, which they then steal and use.

“The holiday shopping season, especially high-spending events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the pre-Christmas rush, are great opportunities for cybercriminals,” Miguel Fornes, a cybersecurity expert at Surfshark says.

“As consumers become more active in online shopping, they face the risk of fake sites that mimic legitimate stores, strategically placed QR codes, and phishing emails. In addition, cybercriminals are actively obtaining publicly available leaked data in order to access accounts on legitimate websites.

There are ways to stay safe while shopping online this holiday season. Human error remains the biggest cause of cybercrime. Click only on links that you know are trustworthy and secure, and don't click on them if you have the slightest doubt.

When entering credit card information, make sure the site is genuine and secure. Scammers can create fake websites that look a lot like the real thing, but watch out for typos in URLs and site pages, and check reviews. If the reviews are fewer than expected or biased in one direction, it should ring alarm bells.

VPNs are a great way to protect your online privacy, and there are a large amount of Black Friday VPN deals currently available, but they do not grant complete protection. Unfortunately, VPNs are not very helpful if you enter your details into a scam site. However, some VPN providers do offer cybersecurity protection as part of their plans.

Many providers offer phishing protection, the best of which is NordVPN's Threat Protection Pro. It was recently certified as the most effective of its kind and is available to anyone who signs up for the Plus plan.

NordPVN also offers NordProtect as part of its top-of-the-line Prime plan. This tool provides identity recovery and restoration, and identity theft victims can be reimbursed up to $1 million. Cyber extortion coverage of up to $100,000 is also included, as well as 24/7 dark web monitoring services.

ExpressVPN, the best beginner VPN, offers a similar product. The newly announced Identity Defender tool is a suite of identity alerting and protection features. It includes identity alerts to monitor personal information on the Internet and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. Identity Defender also includes a data deletion service that scans personal information collected by data brokers and requests deletion.

Both of these are effective tools, but they are currently available only to new U.S. customers, and NordVPN Prime is more expensive than ExpressVPN; Identity Defender is included in ExpressVPN's two-year plan, so ExpressVPN actually is a bit more affordable.