According to a new Bitdefender report, almost half of all Black Friday-themed emails and texts are scams. As Djuro Sen explains in the Sky News segment above, it’s likely to get worse as the big day gets closer – November 24th.
The report found that popular scam emails or texts include.
- Claim your chance to win a $100 Amazon voucher
- Get into the spirit of Black Friday with a
- [Black Friday] Save More, Shop More: Discount Designer Watches at Huge Discounts – Act Fast!
- Unbeatable Black Friday Deals: Grab the Latest Gadgets Now
KEEP ALERT
According to Bitdefender Antispam filters, only 56% of all Black Friday-themed spam delivered between 26 October and 13 November was a legitimate marketing lure. The remaining 46% were marked as scams.
Some scam campaigns impersonated big names in retail including Amazon and Target while others lured shoppers with huge sales and promotions on luxury bags and accessories (Louis Vuitton, Ray Ban and Rolex) and smart gadgets.
39% of such spam (by volume) was sent from IP addresses in the Netherlands. The U.S. shed 25% percentage points compared to our 2022 report, coming in second at only 24%.
The most impersonated brands in the scam correspondence include Amazon, Aldi, and Target.
In line with Black Friday scams, Bitdefender also analysed some of the most targeted industries in phishing campaigns delivered in the past 16 days. Bitdefender telemetry shows the finance industry as one of the most targeted, at 34%, with retail coming third, at 13%.
Bitdefender caught phishing campaigns trying to hijack Amazon, eBay, and PayPal accounts, as well as financial phishing targeting shoppers’ bank accounts. For example, on 6 November, 42% of the entire PayPal-themed correspondence (by volume) received by users was marked as a scam, as was 25% of the entire Amazon-themed correspondence received on 13 November.
Millions of individuals fall victim to scams every year, but pre-Christmas season sales are the busiest times for cybercriminals.
No matter how good the deal – do not click on it – even if you subscribe to the outlet.