Online bargain-hunters preparing for Black Friday should be cautious of potential scam artists looking to swindle them.

The annual shopping promotion, spinning into heightened online purchasing has created a larger pool of potential victims for scammers who are already looking for victims on the Internet. This applies particularly to scams that lure in shoppers with their tempting "amazing deals."

Numerous people in South Africa have become targets of online shopping scams that entice customers with offers of heavily discounted goods—an ongoing fraud scheme.

These fraudulent schemes typically create a counterfeit website resembling an online marketplace or an individual impersonating someone else to entice a transaction.

Nclose co-founder and business development director Stephen Osler has said that once attackers have created their fraudulent website, they will try to promote it to as many people as possible.  According to him, scammers aim to target individuals who have credit or debit cards, to obtain their personal information and make multiple unauthorised transactions. Even retailers such as Woolworths and HiFi Corp have been targeted by scammers.

Deals that appear too good to be true usually are. This is particularly evident on Black Friday, when even the most tempting bargains would typically raise suspicion on any other day.

As a result, browsing the internet during Black Friday becomes minefield to navigate. Being proactive is necessary when buying online. This involves doing research to fully understand who you are contracting with.

Make sure you do your best to protect yourself, and while you can’t 100% avoid these fraudulent websites, the proactive approach is best. If you get an inkling that something is wrong, stay away from it.

To determine the credibility of a website before making any transactions, one can use the yima.org.za website provided by the South African Fraud Prevention Service.

Websites are scanned for scams, finding risks and using feedback from users from clients using a Trust Score.  A plugin can also be put on a browser for quick access.

With website spoofing, attackers can replicate the user interface. Often, even if closely examined, a single changed character in the URL goes unnoticed. AA419, a global volunteer organisation committed to exposing and taking down fraudulent websites, has a record of more than 160,000 bogus sites.

As an example, looking up Cape Union Mart, brings up 7 other current counterfeit websites.

Another red flag that may signal fraud is the absence of a redirect to the bank's 3D secure page or mobile app for transaction confirmation.

An extra layer of protection is applied to online transactions using 3D Secure, which mandates the use of two-factor authentication for each transaction.

According to Sabric (South African Banking Risk Information Centre), it is important for shoppers to select a strong password when creating an account on a secure website. It is also advised not to store this information on any device, including payment details or use a reputable password manager.

It is advisable not to give personal details like ID numbers or date of birth. This information is unnecessary for retailers to fulfil an order.

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