According to an article over at usatoday, today is Hacker Tuesday. It seems that cyberthieves like today to try and scam because it’s the last day customers can order gifts online and have them delivered on time without having to pay extra charges for express shipping. This means heavy last minute sales volume online.

Why is this good for cyberthieves? Because with the deluge of last minute orders, the cyberthieves have a better chance of having their credit card order accepted and go through than when online stores have more time to screen for fraudulent transactions. One expert that follows such trends expects to see a 50% increase in fraudulent use of stolen credit card numbers today

If you think you may have had your credit card or other personal information compromised at any point this year, a check with your credit card company on what transactions have taken place and and the credit bureaus for any suspicious activity today is well worth the effort (especially since they have been a number of large identity information theft cases this year).