You might save money on Black Friday deals - and you might save yourself or a friend from getting scammed.
New technology is bolstering the arsenal scammers have ahead of Black Friday and Boxing Day sales.
“It never ends,” Microsoft’s chief security officer for New Zealand and Australia Mark Anderson said.
He said the cat-and-mouse game companies and authorities had with con artists was getting more complex.
Anderson told the Herald that scam activity would likely escalate ahead of Black Friday on November 24 and then the December 26 sales.
“They’re already in play now but they will crank up.”
He said it was hard for people to resist bargains, especially when the cost of living was high.
To capitalise on this, some scammers deployed “smishing” tricks, impersonating well-known New Zealand companies by text or email, asking people to click a link.
Scammers also used translation services and artificial intelligence to finesse their pitches.
Another scam involved trying to anticipate common consumer behaviour to get hold of passwords.
Anderson said he was targeted when recently cancelling his subscription to a well-known streaming service.
Soon he received an email, purportedly from the streaming service.
”How did they know? Well... it’s just that millions of people every single day subscribe and unsubscribe from these services.”
Scammers knew lots of people had YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon accounts, so would send emails with generic subjects relating to these services.
Often these campaigns relied on the fact some people used the same password for multiple services - so tricking a person into handing over a Netflix password might get the scammer access to more sensitive personal information.
“Password managers are a good thing to have,” Anderson said.
Password managers can generate multiple, complex passwords, reducing the chances of someone using the same password for everything, or using an easy-to-guess password.
Anderson said some Kiwis mistakenly believed scammers only operated from overseas.
A phone call from abroad might arouse suspicion, but a local number might not.
“You will get a New Zealand number and that’s what makes it confusing for a lot of folks.”
He added: “There is no shame. If you are scammed, you are the victim... Make sure you raise it, log it, call your bank.”
Anderson said it was crucial to raise awareness about scams in order to protect vulnerable people.
“We solve it as a community.”
The New Zealand Banking Association said Black Friday ads and sales pitches should be closely scrutinised.
Shopping with trusted retailers was one way to scamproof yourself, the association said.
“Legitimate merchants will be easily accessible online and won’t ask for your personal details through links in texts and emails,” Banking Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said.
He urged online shoppers to make sure website addresses started with “https” and ended with a reputable domain name, such as .org, .com or .nz.
“If you followed a link to get to the site, do an extra search to confirm the site is genuine.”
Cybersecurity agency Cert NZ advised online shoppers to watch out for fake websites and fake sellers while searching for bargains.
Red flags could include the “business” having a contact page with non-business emails, such as Gmail.
“You can also check online reviews,” the agency added.
“While these can be faked as well, it can give you a good steer on the legitimacy of the site and if people actually received the goods they ordered.”
SCAMPROOFING TIPS