STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Gearing up for some Black Friday shopping? Turns out shoppers aren’t the only ones looking forward to the day after Thanksgiving — scammers have that date circled on their calendar too.
U.S. Black Friday shoppers spent $65 billion in 2022, with the average American spending more than $200 over the following weekend, and fraud analysts warn that scammers will again be looking to take advantage of this mass spending in 2023.
“During this busy weekend of shopping, I would highly recommend that you take time to consider the legitimacy of your purchases,’’ warned Ariana Bago, a fraud analyst at Proxyrack, a retailer of computer system proxies. “Taking this time could be the difference between falling for a scam and a successful purchase.”
Bago said there are five very common scams often used by criminals in an attempt to take advantage of shoppers’ frenzied state in the days following Thanksgiving.
“Black Friday is a great time for deals and saving money, however, I must stress that you remain safe and vigilant during this time of spending,’’ Bago said.
She warned of the following five scams:
1. Suspicious links
“This could be anything from an email, text message or online advert — if it doesn’t seem legitimate, don’t click it,’’ Bago said. “There are a few ways you can check the legitimacy of a text or email. Clicking on the contact information of the sender can provide insight. If the email address or phone number of the sender doesn’t match up with the company they’re associating themselves with, it’s likely fake.”
2. Browser extensions
“Around Black Friday a lot of ‘money-saving’ browser extensions start appearing,” according to Bago. “Be cautious with these, some are legitimate but some have been developed by scammers for phishing data.” In short, avoid installing any new browser extensions relating to finances around this time of year, she said, explaining: “The most legitimate Black…
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