Online shoppers are being warned to be extra wary of scammers as Black Friday sales ramp up across the country this week.

Some scammers are running dodgy websites to steal bank account details, others are targeting shoppers who are waiting for package deliveries.

Here’s what you need to know.

We’re easy targets during sales season

“Scammers often exploit popular shopping events like Black Friday, hoping to take advantage of individuals focused on securing a bargain,” ANZ scams portfolio lead Ruth Talalla said.

And when people shop online, what they buy comes to them via a delivery service.

Sometimes that’s from Australia Post, but some retailers use specific courier services, which can create confusion for people expecting parcels.

“The Black Friday-Cyber Monday period gives criminals two opportunities to rip people off in quick succession,” NAB group investigations executive Chris Sheehan said.

“One when Aussies are shopping the sales and another when they’re waiting for packages to be delivered.

“They tailor the scam to what’s happening and what’s on people’s minds

“They know people are busy juggling end of year celebrations, wrapping up work and school, preparing to have a break and they exploit it.”

Scams involving debit and credit cards are at their most-common in November, NAB says.

The peak time of the week for these kinds of scams is between 4pm and 6pm on Thursdays, according to the bank.

Many people are busy and distracted at this time, making them more likely not to notice red flags, Mr Sheehan said. 

“They’re on their way home from work, trying to get dinner ready or picking up kids and maybe taking the opportunity to shop online at the same time,” he said. 

“Criminals know this and they’ll target it.

“If you’re multitasking or thinking through your never ending to do list, it can be easy to miss that the price sounds too good to be true or that the URL has extra or strange characters in it.”

Shopping scams

Fraudsters set up websites pretending to be well-known brands, hoping to lure unsuspecting shoppers.

“We see a lot of fake websites and social media ads impersonating well-known brands at this time of year,” Mr Sheehan said.

People will place an order, pay with their bank cards and, more often than not, nothing will arrive.

Shoppers are led to these websites by clicking on ads scammers have paid for — sometimes they’ll see these adds on social media platforms and sometimes they’ll come up among the links on search engine results.

So be wary of which ads you’re clicking and don’t always go with the first link that comes up when you search for a brand name.

And don’t rush through the purchasing process.

“We encourage customers to take a moment before making any online purchases, whether during a sale or not, and verify the website to ensure the information is legitimate,” Ms Talalla said.

Red flags to look for:

• Deals that look too good to be true
• Missing or extra letters in website domain names
• Requests to make payments with cryptocurrency, gift cards or wire transfers
• Fake-looking reviews

Postage scams

Scammers will send victims a text, using a technique called “spoofing” to make their dodgy message appear in a thread of genuine messages from Australia Post.

The text tells people they’ve got a package waiting for them, but they need to confirm their address before it can be delivered.

This message might have a legitimate-looking link to a dodgy website, like in the example below:

The goal of this scam is to try to steal a person’s credit card details.

So the website might, for example, tell a victim they have to pay a small fee for their parcel to be re-directed.

And these websites can be really-well designed to look like an official Australia Post payment portal, like the one below:

Red flags to look for:

• Being asked to click on a link
• Links that have dodgy spelling
• Requests for personal details like bank details and login credentials

Beware of ‘dark patterns’

The South Australian government warns of tactics that legitimate businesses use to convince shoppers to spend more money.

Known as “dark patterns”, they’re legal but can be manipulative.

Here are a few to watch out for:

• Hidden costs: Extra charges added at the end of the shopping process, like “priority processing”
• Currency conversions: Make sure the prices on the site are in Australian dollars
• Scarcity cues: Pop-ups that create a sense of urgency to make you buy the item quickly before comparing prices
• Redirection or nagging: When you aim to leave the website, you might get pop-ups that say things like “Wait, don’t go!” or “Here’s 20 per cent off if you stay!”

“The best way to avoid falling for these tactics is to not rush into any purchases — there will always be another sale,” the SA government website says.

What should I do if I think I’ve been scammed?

Stop all contact with the scammer and, if you’re able to, stop making any payments or transfers.

Contact your bank immediately.

If you’ve had personal information stolen or need help to recover from a scam, contact Australia national identity theft and cyber support service IDCARE on 1800 595 160.

Take care of yourself — being caught up in a scam can be stressful and distressing.

“There is no shame in getting scammed,” the The National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) says.

“It can happen to anybody.”

NASC recommends contacting Lifeline or Beyond Blue if you need support.

• Beyond Blue: Use Beyond Blue’s online chat service or call 1300 22 4636
• Lifeline: Use Lifeline’s online crisis support chat service or call 13 11 14

If a scam has caused you debt problems, there are free and confidential financial counsellors waiting to help you.

The federal government’s Moneysmart website lists free financial counsellors near you or you can call The National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

How do I report a scam?

Report a scam to NASC’s Scamwatch via an online portal.

You can also make a police report via the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s online portal.

NASC also recommends talking to your family and friends about it.

“It helps to share your experience so they can give you support, and also so you can help them stay safe from scams,” it says.

What is Black Friday?

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, a non-denominational holiday in the United States.

Schools and universities often close for the entire Thanksgiving weekend, according to Time and Date.com.

But while Thanksgiving is a recognised as a federal holiday, the Friday after Thanksgiving is only a holiday in some states.

However, retail workers would be unlikely to get a break on the day, given the trend for shops to extend their business hours to accommodate hordes of shoppers.

Thanksgiving is always on the fourth Thursday of November, so the date of Thanksgiving — and therefore the day after it — changes from year to year.

When is Thanksgiving?

This year Thanksgiving is on November 28.

What date is Black Friday in 2024?

This year Black Friday officially falls on November 29.

However, if you’re subscribed to any retail email lists, you’ll be aware the Black Friday sales have already begun.

What is Cyber Monday?

It’s just a continuation of retail sales.

Cyber Monday began as the online version of Black Friday nearly 20 years ago.

Here’s how the Encyclopædia Britannica explains it:

“The term Cyber Monday was first coined by the [US] National Retail Federation in 2005 when they noticed that people would continue their holiday shopping online while at work on the Monday after Thanksgiving, because, at that time, many people had a faster Internet connection at work than at home.”

Why is it called Black Friday?

Black Friday is kind of like a nickname, not an official holiday name in the same way Thanksgiving is.

There are a few different origin stories floating around, but the general consensus is that it started in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Here’s the University of Pittsburgh’s English Language Institutes explanation of it:

“The term ‘Black Friday’ was first used in 1966 by the Police Department in Philadelphia to describe the headaches caused by all of the traffic caused by holiday shoppers.

“They used the word ‘black’ as a reference to the headaches caused by ‘Black Tuesday,’ the date of the big US stock market crash in 1929.

“Some people say that store employees began using the term ‘Black Friday’ to refer to the dirty floors caused by all of the shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving.”

However, some prefer to say the name comes from the term “back in the black”, because the sales push the earnings of retailers that might have been struggling into a profit zone.

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