1. Black Friday promotion Phishing Emails
Leading up to Black Friday, retailers send out emails informing customers about their Black Friday deals. Criminals take advantage of this and send their own emails out to try to steal data.
Criminals can create fake email addresses that include retailers’ names. Within the email they will prompt you to click a link, which will lead you to a bogus website that looks identical to the retailers. Any information that is inputted on this website will then be stolen by the criminal.
2. Fake Advertisement
Not all adverts are legitimate and Black Friday sees criminals creating their own
advertisements to attract victims. Social media adverts are the most deceiving ones that look real. These adverts will lead you to a website that’s been created for the purpose of capturing confidential information, credentials and even taking fake payments .
3. ‘Too good to be true’ deals
If a deal looks too good to be true then it usually is. Many criminals like to create bargains for victims to order from their ‘website’ and most probably won’t receive any products. If a deal is saving hundreds of pounds it’s probably not real, be wary.
These are our 3 top tips:
1. Look out for questionable emails
Always check email addresses, check they are legitimate by ensuring there are no spelling errors. Look out for the grammar, spelling and punctuation in the email, usually it’s poor from cyber criminals.
2. Don’t click on advertisements
If you see a deal you like, look where it’s from and directly go to the website on an internet browser and check the deal out. Avoid accessing the deal by clicking on the advert as it could take you to an insecure website that has been created by criminals.
3. Look out for insecure websites.
If you are purchasing something off a website then you should make sure in the search box where the URL is that there is a padlock. This padlock means the website is secure and any information inputted in this website will be secure.
If there is no padlock it usually means the website has not been developed securely and any information inputted on this website is not secure and can get in the wrong hands. Usually is a website created by criminals to capture confidential data for a financial gain.