November 2nd 2023
3 ONLINE SCAMS TO WATCH OUT FOR ON BLACK FRIDAY
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are rife with cyber crime. Amidst the flurry of online shopping activity, cyber criminals appear in masses, waiting to steal your confidential information or assume your identity.
To ensure your employees remain safe from cyber scams, we've compiled the most prevalent threats you must watch out for.
Top 3 Black Friday Scams
Phishing
Phishing is a fraudulent technique where criminals deceive people into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials or credit card details. These attackers pose as trustworthy brands and send emails or text messages (known as ‘smishing’) with malicious links.
During Black Friday, you may receive the following phishing and smishing scams:
- Account Verification: You may receive an urgent email or text asking you to confirm your details to secure your account. Trusted retailers will never ask for your login details to support you.
- Order Confirmation: With all the purchases you make during Black Friday, it is easy to get misled by a fake order confirmation. Don't click on any links if you receive a suspicious order confirmation. Contact the retailer's official customer support if you require proof.
- Delivery Notice: A scammer will disguise as a courier and send an alert informing you that your package could not be delivered. It may ask you to update your delivery address using the link provided.
- Non-Delivery Scam: As with any online purchase, you would expect an order confirmation and tracking details. If you receive neither, you may have bought from an unsecured web address, meaning you risk losing your money and data to a scammer.
At Lily, we provide organisations with robust IT security with our cyber security partner, Sonicwall. Get email security and protect your employees from phishing, malware and ransomware threats in time for heightened cyber activity.
Fake Websites Domains
A scammer may use a fake or ‘lookalike’ website to mimic a large, legitimate organisation. As with phishing, the website will look very similar to the genuine site, making it easier to fall into their trap. The fake website will ask for payment details or download malware onto your device.
A lookalike website usually has some telling signs, including typos, grammatical errors and incorrect domain names. It should also begin with “https://” rather than “http://”. The former indicates the website is secure and has a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.
Malicious Social Media Messages
Strong passwords and two-factor authentication extend to all accounts, including social media profiles. Hackers will infiltrate accounts, sending hundreds of messages with fake deals to friend connections. The malicious link will take a person to a lookalike site and ask them to provide bank details to make a purchase.
Share these popular Black Friday scams with your employees, ensuring they stay extra diligent when buying or working online.
If you think a hacker has compromised your data, invest in Lily’s Dark Web IDTM. Our dark web monitoring tool will strengthen internal security procedures and monitor for breaches.
Keep Your Organisation Secure with Lily Comms
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