Black Friday shoppers are falling victim to scams – experts reveal tips on how you can protect yourself

If these Black Friday deals seem too good to be true, chances are they are.

The day after Thanksgiving is reserved for blockbuster sales, not scams, but cybercrime is rampant on Black Friday, from scam websites to fake advertisements that look like fan-favorite brands.

Fox News reports that 50% of online shoppers fall for scams each year, with 30% of cybercrimes involving personal information or money occurring on Black Friday and another 11% on Cyber ​​Monday.

“As it now appears that everyone is shopping online, reliance on digital platforms has given these groups a greater attack surface than ever before,” Cody Barrow, CEO of cyber defense firm EclecticIQ, told CBS News. “Unfortunately, it is likely that the impact will continue into next week.”

EclecticIQ recently released a report that found thousands of fake websites are using a fake “Trusted Store” logo to steal financial information.

Sometimes the scam websites look eerily similar to popular brands offering unbeatable product deals. In other cases, criminals fabricate ads that appear to be for Wayfair or IKEA, for example, and then place them on social media and other websites.

Scammed customers are unlikely to realize they’ve been scammed until they receive their order from the fake websites that are becoming increasingly common this time of year.

“It is very easy to create a fake e-shop that looks really realistic. The look and feel are amazing. You won’t be able to see it easily. So even we sometimes have difficulty figuring out whether something is real or not,” Leyla Blige of Norton’s Scam Research Labs told Fox News.

“Scams make you think twice because they are really complicated and sophisticated these days, especially with AI. Things are becoming much more powerful.”

As businesses prepare to break Black Friday records this year, experts share tips on how to protect your finances and personal information from cybercriminals.

In addition to securing accounts as you normally would, Blige advises never trusting deals that are “too good to be true.”

“For example, if something sells for $100, you can’t get it for $10,” she explained. “So it’s not like you’ll never get a 90% discount, but you usually get crazy discounts like this on sites like this.”

Inconsistencies on the same website are also a red flag. Sometimes fraudulent websites advertise on their homepage that they accept all types of payments, but when customers check out, the site only accepts payments via PayPal or a gift card “because it’s difficult for us to trace them,” Blige said.

“When you see such inconsistencies between the first and last pages, you have to be very careful,” she added.

Be on the lookout for unusual URLs when redirecting to websites, double-check that the site you’re visiting is legitimate – and be sure to read reviews.

“Maybe you should be really careful and contact third-party organizations that actually provide reviews about our organizations,” advises Bilge. “We actually have an AI-powered chatbot that we call Norton Genie that a user can easily cross-check.”

There are forums on sites like Reddit where you can talk to other buyers about potential scams, and a simple search online will likely uncover fake sites as well, Blige said. Additionally, URLs that start with “https” are secure, while URLs that start with “http” do not have a secure connection.

Smishing – a variant of SMS fraud in which criminals send text messages that mimic companies to trick recipients into disclosing sensitive information – is also a danger during the holidays.

“They will tell you that there is a problem with your payment or that you need to make an additional payment so they can actually steal your money,” Bilge explained. “Or they could be trying to actually compromise some personal information so they can use it in another type of attack that may take place later.”

She recommended double-checking the sender’s email address or phone number, noting that it will be “a few random characters” or email address, “which is really suspicious.”

As a rule of thumb: do not click on links from unknown senders.

“With an email like this, you will never receive an email from Amazon or UPS,” she warned.