Black Friday Fraud: How to Shop Online Safely

It’s time to get ready for all the amazing deals that Black Friday has to offer, as the Christmas season approaches and November draws to a close. Furthermore, it’s now easier than ever to shop online for the finest discounts in the connected digital world we live in.

But with internet buying also comes the potential of online shopping frauds, and this Black Friday, digital shoppers are more vulnerable than normal. The global pandemic has led to a significant surge in distant labor and online commerce, so this year’s Black Friday internet risks should be especially concerning to customers. Fortunately, in the lead-up to Black Friday this year, our team of cybersecurity specialists has put together this advice to online shopping safely and securely.

Keeping Safe from Cyberthreats on Black Friday

This holiday season, the best approach to keep yourself safe when shopping online is to be aware of the various cyberthreats that exist and the warning indicators that indicate you may be a target. We have thus provided a detailed list of all potential online hazards below to ensure you are not taken advantage of by any holiday attackers.

Phishing schemes for Black Friday

Phishing, often known as a phishing scam, is a method that cybercriminals use routinely all over the world. As Black Friday approaches, and throughout the year, all digital shoppers should be aware of this cybercrime. Cybersecurity experts have observed that as phishing techniques have advanced, so too has the frequency of scams that ask users to enter personal information on a fraudulent website (typically one that impersonates a major retailer) in order for the scammer to steal your credit card information or use it for identity theft. The following are the most prevalent Black Friday phishing schemes to be aware of:

Phishing for Fake Orders

As the name implies, this kind of threat occurs when a phisher pretends to be sending you an email or text message stating that there is an issue with your order—even if you haven’t placed any orders. Usually, these messages ask you to click on a link that will take you to a phony website where you will be asked to provide sensitive information for “confirmation,” but the attacker will be collecting your information all along.

Online order confirmation forms and notifications follow the same methodology. You may occasionally even get a phony confirmation message by text, email, or phone. You will always be notified that the amount you were charged is incorrect and that you need to “cancel” your order by clicking on a link or visiting a certain website. However, a phony website or phishers will try to obtain your login credentials or sensitive data when you phone or click on the link. Scammers may also send you a fictitious notification claiming there is a delivery issue with your package.

In rare circumstances, you could be required to complete the cancelation by downloading an attachment from a phishing email and returning it with your details. Watch out—the downloaded file can contain further malware that could infect your system in addition to the phony form.

Purchase Only from Reputable Stores

While it may seem easy, when you’re looking for the best bargains, purchasing from reputable and well-known online retailers might be a little challenging. Cybercrime experts advise conducting background research on the brand and the locations of its stores and head office before visiting any website to determine if it has already been flagged as a fraud. For the actual product, you can do the following action:

Just use your preferred browser to conduct an online search for “brand + scam” or “product name + scam.”

Using “WHOIS” services, which can display the domain’s formation date, is another wise move. If the date of creation was only a few weeks ago, this could indicate that the website is fraudulent, so you should be very cautious.

On the same token, you ought to consistently allocate some time to peruse the product reviews that are uploaded on the e-commerce website. When reading through a product’s evaluations, short descriptions that are consistently highly rated might raise red flags.

Recognize the Website on Itself

Take your time and browse the website, even though you might be eager to grab the greatest offer initially. Check for any typos or odd formatting in the webpage’s text or the URL itself. Also, observe if any of the colors on the page seem a little different from how you may have seen it previously.

A small green padlock should appear in the left corner of your browser bar and the website address should start with “HTTPS” rather than “HTTP” if it does not have a valid SSL certificate. If this is the case, you should proceed with caution.

Lastly, a major red flag that indicates you’re on a fraudulent or phony website is :

Employ a vault or password manager

Using a password manager to generate, store, retrieve, and secure your critical passcodes will help prevent hackers from getting access to your email account and other online accounts (especially if it’s a shopping account that contains your bank credentials). With the help of our password management tool, you can create “strong” and one-of-a-kind passwords that are between ten and twelve characters long and include a combination of capital, lowercase, and special characters. You can also store and conveniently remember these passwords thanks to the auto-fill feature.

Make Use of a Reputable VPN

Since a lot of us work from home, it’s possible that you’ll be using an unprotected public WiFi connection to complete your Black Friday shopping. Regretfully, public networks frequently serve as simple entry points for hackers to access your local system. Our recommendation is to use a VPN to prevent this issue. An encrypted private tunnel is built by a virtual private network between a user’s distant computer and any external servers (like Black Friday businesses). Your browser and computer will be shielded from any external threats as a result.

Rather than using a debit card, use a virtual card

When it comes to internet shopping, virtual cards are more secure than actual ones. Fraud is less likely because the details on the virtual card are distinct from those on the user’s real card. In addition, virtual cards could have transaction limits and be able to be deleted or revoked.