Allworth Advice: Phishing attacks
Amy Wagner with Allworth Financial discusses the dangers of phishing attacks.
Allworth Financial, Cincinnati Enquirer
Ready to do some Black Friday shopping? Get ready for an avalanche of Black Friday scammers ready to take your money.
Scammers love big shopping events because people eagerly looking for deals may not look as closely as they should at where they’re getting them from, and that leaves unwary shoppers wide open to criminals. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Americans reported losing $95.2 million from fraud between October through December in 2023.
The biggest ripoffs are counterfeit or fake products, email and text phishing scams, delivery scams, and fake customer service scams.
Here are a few of the ways people are working overtime to steal your money and personal information, and how to avoid them.
The most important tip is this: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
1. Fake ads on social media
The most reported fraud loss in the first half of 2023 was from people who clicked on an ad, mostly on Facebook or Instagram, according to the FTC, and were sent to a fake-but-real-looking website. Those amazing deals resulted in undelivered goods and $2.7 billion lost.
Trend Micro spotted a fake North Face ad offering 80% off, for example.
2. Bogus websites
Fake ads and phishing texts or emails will often send you to a very real-looking website. The fake North Face ad led to the copycat websites northfacecoat[.]shop, northfacedeals[.]shop and northfacecoat[.]shop (the real website is thenorthface.com).
Amazon is a frequent target, and if you find yourself on amazonshops.vip or amazondiscount.net you need to get out of there.
In 2023, Amazon’s security team worked to remove more than 40,000 phishing websites and 10,000 scam phone numbers, an Amazon spokesperson told Forbes. But more pop up every day.
How to avoid:
- Never click on a social media ad, text ad or link in an email. Use your browser to go directly to the website instead.
- If you go to a retail website, make sure it’s the right one. Many scammers create sites with similar names and addresses (URLs) that end in .shop, .vip, .net and others.
3. Scams on real retail websites
Even if you are on the real retailer website, you may not be safe from bad actors. Sites like Amazon, Walmart, Target and others run third-party marketplaces where anyone can sell through them, and scammers use the opportunity to put their counterfeit products under a legitimate store’s online roof.
“Fake online stores like this use Amazon’s branding to sell counterfeit products,” said security software company MalwareBytes, which also spotted ads for incredible deals for Playstation 5 consoles on Temu that led to a Temu page selling knockoff PS5 accessories instead. Even if you do get the merchandise, it won’t be worth it.
How to avoid:
- Assume dirt-cheap deals are ripoffs.
- Buy name-brand items directly from that brand’s website or their official page on Amazon and other sites.
- Read online reviews of discounted items with a skeptical eye. Be wary of lots of identical-looking, possibly AI-generated 5-star reviews.
- Watch for typos and bad grammar, although with scammers using AI assistance this isn’t as obvious as it once was.
What to look for, how to protect yourself from new gift card scam
Authorities are warning shoppers of a new scam targeting gift cards. Here is what to look for and some ways to protect yourself.
4. Gift card scams
Scammers love gift cards because they’re anonymous and can’t be refunded. Some crooks will try to trick you into paying a supposed overdue bill or IRS payment with gift cards, but during the holidays they’re offering them instead.
Sites selling gift cards are also a fast way to have your cash and data stolen. A request for a survey from Sam’s Club in exchange for a $100 gift card is a perennial one, but Sam’s doesn’t do that. MalwareBytes noted a gift card site with a Walmart logo and the address walmartgift.net.
How to avoid: Don’t trust any offers for free gift cards. Go to the real website and see if the offer is listed there.
5. Delivery scam texts
With Black Friday, CyberMonday and the holidays, you’re likely to have a lot of items in the mail. Scammers take advantage of this with a fake delivery failure text that says you have a package out for delivery but they need your address. This was huge in 2023 and will probably be back in force again for the 2024 gift-giving season.
Clicking on the link in these texts takes you to a website that looks like the U.S. Post Office, UPS, FedEx or Amazon where you will be asked to reschedule delivery or confirm your address so scammers can harvest your information to use or sell. You may even be asked to pay for missing postage.
The FTC reported in 2023 that the “fake package delivery problems” text was one of the top reported text message scams. MalwareBytes said they found 50 fake USPS sites set up in a single day.
How to avoid: Do not click on links in “we can’t deliver your package” texts. Report and delete them. Delivery services do not send texts about problems with delivery, those notices will come from email or the legitimate apps.
6. Fake customer service requests
Amazon customer support will never ask for your password or payment information over the phone. But people pretending to be Amazon representatives will when they call to claim there’s a problem with your order or ask you to verify your account information.
How to avoid: Ignore unsolicited phone calls asking for personal information. To be sure, contact customer service through the company’s official website to ask an actual representative about any problem.
This is not an exhaustive list. There are many scammers out there looking for new ways to trick you. But if you keep your eyes open and your mind skeptical, you can avoid them.
When is Black Friday?
Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, is on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, the day after Thanksgiving.