Beware These Black Friday Shopping Scams

The holiday shopping season is ripe for fraudsters, as consumers rush to find and take advantage of some of the best discounts of the year, and potentially ignore the red flags that signal fraud. Security researchers are warning of a rise in scams capitalizing on Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday hype. Fraudsters know they can exploit shoppers’ sense of urgency and enthusiasm for exclusive, limited-time offers – and AI makes these campaigns even harder to spot than usual.

New data from McAfee suggests that nearly half of Americans have encountered an AI-powered scam while shopping, from deepfakes posing as celebrities offering promotions to near-perfect spoofed websites that steal your credit card information.

Here are the scams to watch out for this Black Friday.

Falsified websites are a common type of scam, and scammers are taking advantage of the holiday shopping season to trick users with fake retail sites and sales pages that appear legitimate but actually just collect data like your login credentials and payment information. Scammers will use stolen assets like logos and product photos from well-known and trusted brands, and AI makes it easy to create a compelling (but fake) small business website with elements like a customer service page and consumer reviews in no time.

Another AI-facilitated shopping scam is identity theft scam. You think you watch a popular influencer or celebrity promote an exclusive offer or giveaway product on TikTok or other social media platform, but it’s actually a deepfake. If you click to participate or purchase, you will land on a counterfeit page (as shown above) designed to steal from you.

According to the fraud and scam advisory published by Google in November, fraudsters can preview their content by hijacking of search terms for Black Friday sales, serving misleading advertisements or promoting deals on social media. Fake storefronts may appear as sponsored links, which are easy to ignore if you’re in a hurry to make a purchase.

Of course, you may encounter other common holiday scams, such as fake shipping notifications who request payment in order to resolve a delivery problem as well as account verification scams which prompts you to confirm your personal information. These phishing and smishing campaigns use standard scam tactics, like impersonating a legitimate business or service and sending a fraudulent link that collects your banking information or a username and password combination.

Black Friday scam red flags

When shopping for holiday deals, slow down enough to look for common signs of scams. Scammers will use urgency (for example, limited time to complete a transaction or a limited number of items left in stock) in the hope that you won’t think before you buy. You should also be wary of any too-good-to-be-true deals or promotions whose particularly low prices don’t match other sales on similar items. This includes influencers offering “exclusive” opportunities. If you’re buying from a small business you’re unfamiliar with, Google the brand and read third-party reviews to see if it’s legitimate.

Instead of clicking on links from emails, text messages, and social media posts promoting sales, go directly to the retailer’s website and search for the deal. If you click through, carefully check the URL to make sure it’s legitimate (scammers may use homoglyphs that avoid detection at first glance) and look for website elements that real companies have, like a privacy policy and an address. If you see a promotion on social media, check the creator’s account to see when they joined the platform, what they’ve posted in the past, and if they’re verified.

Be wary of any site that requires you to pay with a gift card, cryptocurrency, or bank transfer rather than a credit card, which offers some fraud protection. Legitimate retailers will use legitimate payment methods.

Finally, never enter your login credentials without confirming that the site you are using is trustworthy. This includes delivery services and your Amazon and PayPal accounts, all of which scammers can trick you into “verifying” in order to resolve a billing or delivery issue.