Some scam campaigns impersonated big names in retail including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohl’s and Lowe’s, while others lured shoppers with huge sales and promotions on luxury bags and accessories (Louis Vuitton, Ray Ban and Rolex) and smart gadgets.According to Bitdefender Antispam filters, only 56% of all Black Friday-themed spam delivered between Oct 26 and Nov 13 was a legitimate marketing lure.

The rate of spam emails (both marketing and scams) will undoubtedly continue to grow throughout the official Black Friday week. The Black Friday spam rate, although barely existent by the end of spooky month, has grown consistently during the past weeks, with the largest peak at 22% noticed on Monday, Nov 13 (see Fig.With the help of our antispam researcher Viorel Zavoiu, we’ve compiled some interesting stats for Black Friday scam topics and trends adopted by fraudsters this year. In this article, courtesy of Bitdefender Antispam Lab, we would like to address the email-based threats (scams) exploiting the buzz surrounding Black Friday. Unsolicited Black Friday emails (spam) come in all shapes and sizes, including benign unsolicited correspondence (brick-and-mortar marketing emails meant to attract shoppers).īut we’re not here to talk about aggressive marketing schemes that end in your inbox, presumably, by the dozen, during peak sales times. In the past couple of weeks, researchers at Bitdefender Antispam Lab have been relentless in monitoring Black Friday spam volumes to keep you informed about relevant email-based scams so you can safeguard your money and data. Millions of individuals fall victim to scams every year, but pre-Christmas season sales are the busiest times for cybercriminals. Some scams are dead giveaways, while more ‘hard-working’ cyber thieves aim to deliver more sophisticated ruses to eager online shoppers. The online hazards that await consumers on Black Friday are endless, with scammers reaching out to targets via emails, texts and social media. Although the Black Friday shopping frenzy has already begun in some parts of the world, million of consumers are still updating online shopping and wish lists in anticipation of 2023’s best shopping deals.īetween hefty discounts that can save you good money, Black Friday sales events make a highly profitable playground for cybercrooks seeking to siphon some of the billion-dollar profits.

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