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Whatever the occasion, scammers know how to take advantage of seasonal spending. The rush to buy candy, flowers, and jewelry for Valentine’s Day. The surge of cheap offers just in time for Christmas. Summer vacation booking scams. Cyber Monday and Black Friday scams during the holiday shopping season. Online shopping is a year-round activity — and scammers will continually push dodgy surveys and bogus deals leading to a fake website to take our hard-earned cash.
How much money do we lose to online shopping scams over the holiday season?
Online shopping is a lucrative market for scammers, but even more so during busy holiday shopping seasons when many retailers advertise huge savings. And the scams are only increasing in frequency.
A 22% surge in Black Friday scams in 2022 meant UK shoppers who fell victim to scams lost an average of £970 during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period. But Black Friday scams are just the beginning.
According to the National Cyber Security Centre, £10.6 million was lost by British consumers to online scammers during the holiday season of November 2022 to January 2023. During the same period in the US, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that US shoppers lost $73 million to scammers.
How do shopping scammers rip us off?
The retail industry is so huge for scammers that nearly 1 in 4 of us fall victim to online shopping scams, with favorite tactics including fake offers, scam retail websites, bogus surveys, and phishing emails aimed at stealing sensitive details like bank account information. So what can you look out for to make sure you avoid fake websites and buy from genuine online stores instead?
1. Fake email offers
As retailers rush to capitalize on the most profitable shopping times of the year, they'll flood your inbox with great — and often time-sensitive — offers. In some emails, it can be difficult to tell apart the genuine deals from your favorite brands and the scammers imitating them to spread phishing links.
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Let's take popular sunglasses brand Ray-Ban, for example. This scammer has emailed claiming to offer a significant price reduction on sunglasses, creating a sense of urgency to get you to click ("a limited-time offer") with a huge discount of 90%. While online sales can allow you to grab a bargain, they're never that good. So, if a discount seems unbelievable, it probably is.
2. Fake websites and scam retailers
Scammers have a multitude of tricks to get their dodgy links out to the masses — from convincing you to click links in scam emails to advertising fake products on social media. They often create fake websites to deceive people into entering sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers, so learning how to spot scam websites is the key to keeping your money safe.
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Links from fake emails or social media pages often lead to fake websites that somewhat resemble a genuine retailer's site, like in the example above. But you don't need to click to figure out if it's a fake — the easiest way to tell whether a retail website is genuine or not is from its URL.
For desktop users, simply hover over any links in an email to see the destination URL without clicking the link. If you're using a mobile, press and hold down on the link and a bubble will pop up with the full URL. Look out for:
A domain that doesn't feel very official, such as “buyraybannow.com”
Typos — a single swapped letter can turn genuine a Ray-Ban into a knock-off Rey-Ban
An obscure top-level domain such as “.top” or “.ru” instead of “.com”
Avoiding and reporting fake websites
Be cautious during an online purchase to avoid scams like non-delivery, website spoofing, and fake order confirmation emails. Always check for a physical address and contact details on a website to ensure its legitimacy and don't enter your personal details on suspicious websites.
If you think a website is genuine and want to proceed with a payment, use credit cards over debit cards for online purchases to benefit from enhanced security and purchase protection. Then, in the event of a missing item, document any unsuccessful attempts to contact the seller and ask your credit card company to reverse the charges.
Report any suspected scam websites to the Federal Trade Commission in the US, the National Cyber Security Centre in the UK, or check out Europol's list of reporting websites in Europe.
3. Trick surveys
Another favorite tactic by scammers is using the lure of free things. Specifically, offering free gift cards as a reward for completing surveys. Scammers rely on some of the biggest brands in the world in order to commit identity theft, masquerading as companies such as Amazon to get people to click dodgy links and enter their personal information.
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To tell if a survey is fake, consider:
Is the gift disproportionate to what you’re being asked to do?
Is there time pressure to complete it quickly? (A countdown timer is a big red flag.)
Are you being asked to pay any money upfront or pay for postage costs? (Remember that legitimate surveys don’t ask for money.)
5 tips to avoid falling victim to shopping scams
While the holiday season is an exciting time to shop for deals and gifts for loved ones, it's also a time when there's an increased risk of fraud — with Black Friday scams in particular permeating the internet.
However, by taking proactive measures and remaining vigilant as you make online purchases, it's possible to shop safely for Valentine's Day, for your summer vacation, and across the festive period.
Check for free if a website is safe to buy from using our instant F‑Secure Online Shopping Checker. Just copy, paste and submit the URL you'd like to check — it’s as simple as that.
Double check URLs and email addresses. For webpages, make sure the browser starts with “https” instead of “http” — “https” means your connection is encrypted. For emails, it’s a big red flag if the sender's name and email address don't match, or if there are typos.
Avoid too-good-to-be-true prices and unusual payment methods. Legitimate retailers ensure that their shipping and billing forms are correct, clean, and functional. Proper forms will verify that the correct characters are entered properly for each field, such as your zip code.
Go directly to a seller's website. Trust your gut — if something feels suspicious, it may well be. So don't click the link and instead go directly to the retailer's site in your browser.
Keep your money safe with online security. Our all-in-one security app, F-Secure Total, protects you even when you don’t suspect a scam.
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