4 ways scammers exploit Black Friday

Black Friday deals are already underway, but not all are what they seem. Action Fraud data shows £11.8m was lost to online shopping fraud between November 2024 and January 2025.

Fraudsters use too-good-to-be-true deals to lure you in, and Black Friday provides the perfect occasion for them to disguise their schemes.

Below, we explain the most common Black Friday scams to watch out for. 

1. Fake adverts

Scammers like to impersonate big brands to flog non-existent items on social media any time of year, but you're likely to see more of it around the festive shopping season.

Adverts on social media that claim to be giving away free or heavily discounted items should be treated with caution. This is especially true for ads posted from accounts that aren’t verified – these are the accounts that don’t have a blue tick next to their names to identify them as officially linked to the brand they claim to represent. 

Scammers also use deepfake videos and AI-generated images to impersonate well-known people and brands in an attempt to make them appear more convincing. So pay attention to the finer details – look for images that are too perfect and with video footage, look for signs of poor lip-syncing and unnatural expressions. 

2. Phishing emails

Unexpected emails impersonating retailers commonly do the rounds in the lead-up to Black Friday.

Often, these messages claim to be giveaways by popular stores and provide links to dodgy websites where you’re asked to complete a survey to be in with the chance of winning an item.

The aim is to steal your personal and financial information to either scam you immediately or later down the line. 

Data gathering can lead to more elaborate scams where the fraudster will call you up pretending to be from your bank and spin a story that will convince you that your bank account has been compromised. They’ll try to convince you to move money to an account they can control, or give them access to your account and move the money themselves. 

3. Dodgy texts

Out-of-the-blue texts promoting Black Friday offers and encouraging you to click links should be avoided. Instead, double-check and verify the offer by visiting the official website of the brand associated with it.

Scam texts may spread malware through links in the messages, so you should always avoid clicking on these.

You should also be wary of scam delivery texts. This time of year it's likely that you're awaiting a delivery, which is why scammers will seize the opportunity to send speculative texts claiming you need to rearrange delivery, provide further address information or pay a fee. Avoid following instructions from a text message and visit the courier's official website directly to verify the request. 

4. Scam websites

Between August and October, cybersecurity company NordVPN reported a 232% spike in fake Amazon websites and a 525% increase in dodgy sites impersonating eBay.

Scammers can create a convincing scam website in very little time, but there are a few red flags that can give it away:

1. The website's address isn’t the brand or company’s official website – it may contain the brand name among other words to appear legitimate, or even random characters to appear like a close copy of the brand's name.
2. Their offers sound too good to be true or have unrealistic discounts.
3. The website has poor spelling and grammar, uses unprofessional language or uses blurry or out-of-date branding.
4. There are no terms and conditions, privacy policy or contact information.
5. Looking at multiple review platforms reveals negative reviews. You should also be suspicious of lots of similarly written positive reviews, as they could be fake reviews.