Between November 2023 and January 2024, the NFIB received 16,031 reports from online shopping and auction scam victims, with total losses of £12.9m. The NIFB analyses data from Action Fraud's reports, it also sends reports to local police forces for investigation and can take down bank accounts, websites and phone numbers used by fraudsters.
Purchase fraud, where scam victims are deceived into buying goods that don't exist, is one of the most common types of fraud in the UK. It poses such a threat that TSB has warned that from January to October this year, purchase fraud accounted for more than half of all fraud cases at the bank.
TSB also found that Facebook accounted for two thirds of all purchase fraud losses and Instagram accounted for one in six.
A bogus offer isn't anything new, but the hype of the Black Friday and Christmas sales period and all the advertising that's pumped out at this time of year allows scammers to disguise their traps.
Read on to discover the latest Black Friday scams and how you can spot one.
Black Friday scams
The scams we've seen so far include dodgy emails promoting a 'Black Friday Mystery Box' full of 'gadgets, smart devices and surprise gifts' and a new PlayStation 5 sold as part of a 'Black Friday Deal'.
Brands selling advent calendars are commonly impersonated during the Black Friday and Christmas shopping season. One scam advert on Facebook and Instagram promoted The Perfume Shop's advent calendar for just £27.86 when it should be retailing at around £85. The Perfume Shop's official website also states that the advent calendar has sold out for the year.
Another scam advert on Facebook and Instagram impersonated Amazon and claimed to offer Black Friday deals with 'massive discounts'. The advert led to a suspicious shopping website that advertised items at low discounted prices.
How to spot and avoid a scam deal
Last year, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned that AI technology including large language models – where you type a prompt to a chatbot – could pose a new online shopping threat.
While we’ve long relied on poor spelling and grammar to spot scams, the NCSC warns that AI could create more polished communication to phish for your personal or financial information or download malware to your device.
With bargain deals bombarding your inbox and social media feeds, it can be hard to weed out the legitimate offers from the scams.
Be additionally cautious with Black Friday deal emails landing in your inbox – double-check the sender's details and inspect all links before you click on them. Rather than following the link from the email, consider visiting the retailer's website directly as this will help you avoid clicking on any malicious links.
Classic signs that a Black Friday deal may be a scam are:
Reporting a scam
You can use in-platform reporting tools to report scam ads and posts on social media.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/how-to-avoid-falling-for-a-black-friday-scam-asew83l5sdLg