Shoppers warned of Black Friday scams

Shoppers are being warned about a rise in online scams ahead of this Black Friday (29 November).

With Christmas fast approaching, shoppers across the country are on the look out for the best festive deals.

Retailers have been gearing up for weeks, advertising special Black Friday offers to try to entice shoppers to spend their cash.

But with the rise of online shopping comes the rise in scams, as one woman recently discovered.

Emma Jenkins recently tried to purchase beauty advent calendars for members of her family after seeing a video advertisement on Facebook.

She said: "I had wanted to get my family one of the SpaceNK calendars for a while, and when I saw the video, I thought 'that looks incredible."

Clicking on the associated link, Emma, who works for ITV, was diverted to a replica of the SpaceNK website boasting the special Black Friday deal.

"The website looked so legitimate, I didn't question it."

After paying for her order, Emma did not receive email confirmation containing tracking information, and began to question her purchase.

She reached out to the fraudulent help email twice to ask about the whereabouts of her order, but never received a reply.

The fraudsters had created a website with a URL varying only slightly from the real SpaceNK URL, meaning Emma did not suspect the scam.

She continued: "That part of the scam that we don't see I suppose, is have they now got my bank details?

"You really have to be careful here, because not everything that you see on facebook, not all of these videos on social media are actually the original company posting these. These scams are getting cleverer and cleverer."

Emma was fortunate enough to be reimbursed for her purchases, but not everyone is so lucky.

A spokesperson from SpaceNK said cases like Ms Jenkins' are not a rare occurrence: "Multiple retailers are affected by these types of scams of social media platforms. In our case scammers have used our much desired (and sold out Advent Calendar) as a way to entice customers to be duped.

"As soon as these are reported to us, we report it to Meta and our legal teams take action to have the website removed."

They continued by urging customers to always head to their company website, and to carefully check the URL before purchasing any items. Any special offer advertised on social media would also be advertised on the original website.

But what can you do to avoid the scammers?

Lisa Webb, a Which? Consumer Expert, spoke to ITV Cymru Wales about her advice to consumers this Black Friday.

She said: "AI scams are becoming increasingly common and unfortunately, shoppers shouldn't assume that all Black Friday deals they see are genuine."Luckily, there are some telltale signs you can look out for to help spot computer-generated scams online. Products in images often look the wrong scale and deepfake videos of people can have jerky movements and unnatural facial expressions. Websites with lots of generic positive reviews should also ring alarm bells."If you spot any adverts you suspect are an AI scam, report it to the platform you saw it on. If you think you've been scammed, contact your bank immediately and report the scam to Action Fraud, Citizens's advice and your local police force on 101."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…