Black Friday is already Friday. Scammers know this well. 3 million Poles fell victim to them

This Friday, November 24, is Black Friday, the great holiday of cheap shopping. And, although Polish stores do not organize such spectacular discounts as their counterparts in the USA, many Poles will go to shopping malls or shop online. Cybercriminals know this very well and – as is the case with many other high-profile events – they will want to use Black Friday for their own purposes.

Black Friday is coming and scammers know it. Minions of Poles fall victim to attacks

A study commissioned by NordVPN shows that 32 percent Poles have been cheated in the past when shopping online. As if that were not enough, as many as 3 million people in Poland fell victim to fraud while looking for promotions on Black Friday or Cyber ​​Monday (the next Monday after Black Friday). These data clearly show that events such as Black Friday are a treat for cybercriminals. Interestingly, the vast majority of us (88%) are willing to provide at least some of our personal data in exchange for receiving a discount in the store. And in the case of people who have already been scammed while shopping online in the past, this percentage is even higher. It is therefore not surprising that in many scams, cybercriminals try to trick us into providing sensitive information with discounts or promotional vouchers for the stores they impersonate.

We’ve noticed in the past that cybercriminals become very active during the shopping season, so Poles who plan to take advantage of this year’s deals should be careful. The most important thing to remember during shopping season is that if an offer looks too good to be true, or if you are required to provide a lot of personal information to close the deal – it’s probably a scam

– explains Adrianus Warmenhoven, cybersecurity expert at NordVPN.

How to protect yourself against fraud on Black Friday? There are several ways

The methods of protection against attacks depend, of course, on the fraud itself, but one thing remains constant. It is common sense. It is worth checking carefully whether particularly attractive promotions actually come from proven, legal stores. It often happens that fraudsters impersonate well-known brands (use their logos, make crafted pages similar to original websites, etc.) to gain our trust, and then extort personal data and credit card numbers. It is also better to pay attention to whether the store’s website is secure (the padlock icon next to the address bar) before providing any data there.

Let’s also pay close attention to the content of SMS messages. Those from fraudsters often contain linguistic errors or are simply incorrectly translated into Polish. Let’s not click on links contained in messages without thinking. Some of them only look similar to the addresses of popular stores’ websites, but contain minor differences or are located in a foreign domain (e.g. the .cc domain sometimes used by fraudsters belongs to the Cocos Islands).

There are a few more elements worth paying attention to during Black Friday. As experts from home.pl note, it is worth using e.g. popular QR codes carefully. Sometimes they are found on stickers found in stores, shopping centers or on leaflets. They allow you to easily open any website, including those prepared by fraudsters.

It’s not about not using QR codes, but about using them wisely. Taking a closer look at the leaflet or sticker will allow you to notice suspicious elements, e.g. poor quality of graphics or errors in the content. However, if we decide to scan the code, it is worth checking what address it directs to – most devices display a preview of it before taking us to the website. If you do visit a website, you should also look at it carefully, remembering that cybercriminals try to make it credible, e.g. by using the logo of the company they are impersonating.

– warns Rafał Krymowski, Head of Products and Operation at home.pl.

Let’s also use public chargers carefully, e.g. in shopping malls. After connecting the smartphone to electricity, the system asks whether we are only interested in energy flow or also data transfer. Let’s not consent to data transfer, because cybercriminals may use such charging points to send malware to the phone.

Many devices, when connected to USB, ask the user to allow data transfer. If we consciously read the message and reject the data transfer option, there is no need to worry. The problem is that we often click “allow” without reading the message

– explains Szymon Młynarczyk, Head of Marketplace at home.pl

Another issue is the use of public Wi-Fi networks, which may also be unsecure. It is best to only use your own Internet package, and when logging in to the Wi-Fi of a store or restaurant, it is better not to log in to any online accounts, especially bank ones.