How to avoid Black Friday shopping scams

The offer of products and services that promise unbelievable discounts is massive this Friday (25) of Black Friday and sometimes extends until the end of November. However, the consumer must be careful not to fall into scams and, instead of saving, lose money.

For Fabio Assolini, director of the global research and analysis team at Kaspersky —a cybersecurity and digital privacy company— consumers should be aware of messages that arrive via social networks, SMS and email.

Messages with false offers are called phishing🇧🇷 as they use popular themes such as “bait” to induce users to inform personal data, which will be used in financial fraud, fraudulent online purchases, among other crimes. According to a survey by Kaspersky, Brazil is the fifth country most attacked by phishing in the world.

“There are two main types of scam: the fake website that has a name similar to that of large retailers. The fraudster edits the address and puts the price well below normal. And another widely used are stores created with any name.”

Usually means of payment are via Pix or credit card. “In the first case, the amount sent is quickly sprayed into accounts of oranges, which makes reversal unfeasible and, in the second, they clone the victim’s card.”

According to Assolini, the consumer must research whether the domain and CNPJ of that site are true before making the payment, in addition to consulting suspicious sites that are listed by Procon and Reclame Aqui. “It may take a little work, but the search carried out by the client is important because often the scam is new and there was no time for a complaint to be registered with consumer protection bodies.”

List of sites to avoid

Procon-SP released a list of 41 sites that should be avoided: they were the target of consumer complaints, were notified by the agency, but did not respond or were not found. Check the list here.

Tips for avoiding traps

• Check the address (URL) before clicking the link—sometimes it may be different from what is visible. Is the URL correct?
• Are there any spelling errors or design bugs? If so, go to the store’s offer page by directly typing in the correct address
• Shop at official stores. If in doubt about the property’s reputation, search the complaints services and check reviews before making any decisions.
• Install an antivirus that will notify you if you are trying to visit a suspicious page
• Use unique passwords for each site or service. If you only use one password, if it is stolen, all services will be compromised
• Compare prices and be wary of offers far below the market
• Avoid impulse purchases, analyze the details. Criminals want the purchase to be completed quickly
• Create virtual cards for different online purchases: In your bank’s application, you can probably create cards to be used only once. That way, in case of problems, it’s easy to cancel with your smartphone and avoid cloning your physical card.

Source: Kaspersky