3 Vicious Scams Utah Needs To Watch Out For On Black Friday

Black Friday is always a big deal and Utahns are looking forward to cheap gifts for others (and themselves) but need to be cautious.  

Since the rise of online shopping, online scams have become prevalent which means that Utah shoppers need to be on their guard. It is easy to get caught up in an online shopping spree and miss tell-tale signs of a scam.  

Sure, there are certain websites that safeguard against it to an extent like Amazon but even their experts miss stuff. So, watch out for these popular scams on Black Friday.  

Impersonation 

Hackers and cyber criminals are smart. One way they go about scamming is by impersonating well-known brands. Forbes and Malwarebytes are warning shoppers about this tactic. One example they gave is a PlayStation 5 console for sale on Temu...only Temu doesn’t sell those.  

Basically, if it seems too good to be true it probably is. Check that you aren’t being taken to weird links via video or ads.  

Credit Card Skimmers 

Often people think of credit card skimmers as little devices attached to checkout machines in stores or ATMs. Well, they are online too. Forbes said that these are usually found in the checkout areas of websites after someone has injected malware into the site.  

It can be difficult to see if a smaller retail website is compromised but checking when it was last updated can help. Search for that “Copyright 2024” logo at the bottom of the webpage.  

Malvertising 

Online ads are a scary thing. Most of the time people skip over them but if you were to accidentally click on one, you could be in big trouble. Scammers embed malware into the ads and then steal all your information. Lots of times these ads are “sponsored” Forbes said. So, the best course of action is to avoid any ads at all even if they seem genuine.