Black Friday Scams: How to Spot Them and Keep Your Business Safe

Posted: 18th November 2025

Black Friday is a brilliant chance for shoppers to grab a bargain, but it’s also the perfect chance for cyber criminals to strike. During this busy sale period, people tend to move quickly, click fast, and think later.

This creates the perfect breeding ground for fraud. In fact, the National Cyber Security Centre reported over 16,000 cases of online shopping fraud between November 2023 and January 2024. 

As always, the best form of protection is awareness. So, here are the dangers you need to be aware of during Black Friday 2025.

Black Friday Scams to Look Out For

Spoof Websites

Replica sites are made to look almost identical to trusted retailers, but usually with a slightly altered web address. Perhaps a missing letter or a different domain ending. Once someone lands on the fake site, they’re encouraged to enter payment and personal details, which go straight to the scammer.

During Amazon Prime Day in 2020, hundreds of fake Amazon-lookalike websites were discovered, and criminals continue to use this tactic across every major sale season.

As a consumer, you can reduce the risk of falling foul of spoof websites by checking web addresses carefully and avoiding clicking on deals directly from emails or social media. Instead, type the retailer’s website in manually. 

Meanwhile, as a business, it’s important to make your website hard to impersonate by securing variations of your domain and staying alert to customer comments on social channels. Often, your audience will be the first to alert you (and everyone else!) if something feels off.

Phishing Emails

Black Friday is a prime time for phishing emails, with countless opportunities for cyber criminals to scam consumers. It could be as simple as a malicious link to a great offer. It could be an email impersonating a retailer flagging a failed transaction. It could be a courier wanting to arrange delivery. Phishing emails are designed to trigger an emotional response from the recipient, so always take your time. Check the sender’s details, look for typing errors, and most importantly, don’t click any links if you have any suspicions at all.

As a business, we recommend that you remind your teams of the safeguarding rules around personal internet use in the workplace. If a user falls victim to a phishing attack through their personal emails on a business device or is drawn to a ‘mega sale’ pop-up, it could be your business data the scammer captures. Ideally, your firewall will be configured to protect your business from this possibility. If you’re unsure, check with your IT provider.

Smartphone Message Scams

As the game of sending fraudulent emails becomes saturated, scammers are increasingly turning to Smartphone scams using WhatsApp, text messages and social media DMs to trick victims. 

In 2018, WhatsApp users received a message offering generous discount codes for retailers that actually installed malware once opened.

If your business name is used in one of these scams, the reputational impact can be significant. The quicker you spot it, the quicker you can respond, so it’s worth keeping an eye on online mentions and customer comments. If you discover your brand is being impersonated, notify your customers publicly and report the issue to Action Fraud as soon as possible.

Jupiter IT – we’re passionate about cyber security.

Cyber crime is constantly evolving, and scams are becoming more convincing every year. At Jupiter IT, we believe cyber security should be clear, supportive and proactive.

That’s why we provide free, engaging cyber security training to all our clients. When your team is confident, your business becomes better protected.

If you’d like to strengthen your security before the next big sales rush, just get in touch. We’d be happy to help.