Fraudsters are all set to exploit Black Friday sales. Beware!

Criminals are aware that at this time of the year, shoppers are looking for discounted deals and might be easily manipulated into clicking on the links that they are not supposed to and share their personal information. 

Police urged people to not be hasty in buying things or giving out their personal information to uncertain platforms. They need to make sure that the website is legitimate before purchasing the items.

There has been an 80% increase in the fraud that the customers faced with online shopping. The problems consist of scams, defective goods, violating customer rights, and chargebacks, etc.

This concern is a part of the National Consumer Week and International Fraud Awareness Week and it will guide people to be cautious of the risks while buying things online.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, this has been a perfect opportunity for the fraudsters to exploit shoppers. Frauds such as delivery fraud, fake emails, phishing emails, and scams have relatively increased. 

A police officer Alison Wiles stated: “Courier fraudsters are possibly the most callous in my opinion – they’re able to look their victim in the eye and lie to them, often frightening a vulnerable person into giving them huge sums of money. They initiate contact primarily over the phone, posing to be a trusted police officer or bank official and ask the victim to either purchase expensive items for ‘evidence’ or remove large quantities of money from their account after claiming a mistake has been made, only to be collected by a fake ‘courier’”.

Elderly and simple-minded people who are living alone during the lockdown are the ones who are most at risk of being frauded. The police officers are asking those who are more knowledgeable regarding fraud to guide those who have less knowledge about it.