JustAnswer Data Reveals Surge in Scam, Fraud, and ID Theft Questions as Prime Day Kicks Off Holiday Shopping Season

Nearly 80,000 cybersecurity-related questions fielded on the JustAnswer platform in 2025 YTD; unauthorized charges skyrocketed 117% in summer months

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- With October designated National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Amazon's Prime “Big Deals Days” Sale this week marking the unofficial kick off to the 2025 holiday shopping season, new data from expert platform JustAnswer reveals a troubling spike in consumer concerns about scams, fraud, and identity theft in the past year.

According to a recent analysis, JustAnswer experts answered nearly 80,000 cybersecurity-related questions on the platform just in the first nine months of 2025. At this volume, JustAnswer is on track to exceed the nearly 94,000 cybersecurity queries processed throughout all of 2024.

Among these questions, fraud remains the top concern among consumers, accounting for 55% of all cybersecurity questions in 2025 year-to-date, followed by scams at 41%, and identity theft at 6%.

“We’ve experienced a record spike in questions about phishing, unauthorized charges, and hacked accounts as the holiday shopping season begins,” said JustAnswer Cybersecurity Expert Cris Angulo. “Cybercriminals will try to take advantage of the surge in mobile and social media shopping, but there are important steps consumers can take to protect themselves.”

Summer Spike Signals Growing Consumer Vulnerability
Perhaps most concerning for shoppers preparing for the holiday season: cybersecurity questions surged dramatically during summer 2025, with August marking the highest volume month for both fraud and scam inquiries. Fraud questions peaked at 6,100 in August – a 61% increase from January levels – while scam concerns jumped 57% over the same period to reach 4,700 questions.

The data reveals several key trends that shoppers should be aware of as Prime Day and the broader holiday season approaches:
- Unauthorized Charges Explode: Questions about unauthorized charges more than tripled during summer months, skyrocketing from approximately 400-600 per month early in 2025 to over 1,300 in August and September – a 117% increase and the single largest growth area in all cybersecurity categories.
- Phishing Attempts Intensify: Phishing-related questions jumped to 140+ per month in 2025, up from 60-90 per month throughout 2024, representing a 56% year-over-year increase.
- Suspicious Communications Multiply: Reports of suspicious emails and messages both saw sharp increases in summer 2025, with suspicious message inquiries spiking to 70 per month in August-September 2025, up from just 10-30 monthly in 2024.
- Account Compromises Rise: "Account hacked" questions surged to 110 cases in September 2025 alone – the most dramatic single-month growth in the identity theft category, suggesting growing consumer anxiety about direct account breaches heading into shopping season.

Protecting Yourself This Shopping Season
JustAnswer cybersecurity and technology experts recommend the following precautions as Prime Day and the holiday shopping season begins:
- Verify website URLs carefully before entering payment information
- Be skeptical of deals that seem too good to be true
- Monitor bank and credit card statements closely for unauthorized charges
- Use unique, strong passwords for each shopping account
- Enable two-factor authentication wherever available
- Be wary of phishing emails or texts claiming to be from retailers
- Shop only on secure websites (look for "https://"; in the URL)

About JustAnswer
JustAnswer is the world's largest expert platform that connects people with live doctors, lawyers, vets, mechanics and other verified experts for real-time, online professional help. Featuring more than 12,000 experts across 150 categories, JustAnswer has helped millions of customers across 196 countries since 2003.

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Aimee Grove
JustAnswer
+1 415-706-1906
email us here

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