Topic: Beware of scams this coming Black Friday - page 2. (Read 414 times)

First off, we appreciate the update and wake up call about scammers. But, the most important things we should be paying attention to are these key points listed out. It’s better to be too careful than to be entirely lousy especially with finances.
Online shopping cannot be ignored entirely especially when one has had a good first time experience with it, the comfort, seamless services and all that, all you have to look out for is not to get involved with scammers. Do not use all sites you see offering huge discounts, because it is possible that they pay for the audience, and the minute you become gullible you become an instant victim.
So stick to your vendors and double check every address of a webpage requesting personal details.
Sad thing is people will still be victims, just make sure it is not you.

I was thinking about that when reading this thread; you read my mind!

I'm the first guilty when it comes to buy online because of the convenience of buying with just one click while sitting on my sofa, but we'd really make us a favor, and the entire world, if we lifted our asses and moved to a nearby store to buy what we needed. We wouldn't consume so many things we don't need, would spend much less we would be promoting local employment and, back on topic, physical stores are much harder to fake

What should matter during these holidays shouldn't be far from a norm that should have become a second nature and it may involve trying to know the prices of products before the main day, checking to know the ratings and published reviews on the site, and keeping all apps anf software for purchase, up to date so as to avoid the possibilities of scammers getting access.

The best advice for a tip during a black Friday doesn't go much more than a reminder to use secure passwords for online accounts, to educate yourself on phishing scams. Avoid those deals that may be too good to be true. Don't trust, verify any websites a potential customer is directed to.

Besides these tips, a black Friday deal is an initiative that should help people gain more value from their purchase and it shouldn't be a loss-loss situation for both the sellers and customers alike, if precautionary measure is taken into cognizance.

Thanks @OP for this important reminder, black Fridays every year is a day of discounts and many people will be eager to check out for sites that are offering discounts so that they can take advantage of it. It is also a season for scammers to cash in on people's ignorance and steal from them, so it is better to be in the know and take every precautionary measures to avoid being scammed. Also as we're entering into the festive season, scammers will also find means to steal from unsuspecting individuals. Any offers that seems to good to be true should be given second thoughts, business owners are not Santa Claus, they can't give discounts that will fold their businesses. Beware of scam projects that will promise unrealistic returns on a short term and never click on sites that you know nothing about, these are a few precautionary steps not to be scammed in this season and always.

The issue of scams keeps increasing and they keep coming up with new stategies every time just to deceive people and allowing them to fall victim and the way scammers will want to penetrate you they will do everything possible just for them to be able to make their victim trust them that is what they do they always want to make people trust them and the moment thay trust is gain that is when they will be able to actually do exactly what they want and that is why the first thing they focus on is how to make you believe them.

And if not that truly people like free things if not this period we should be able to tell if something is true or not, we know that everyone is looking for a way out but the chance of having that way out is small because the victim will fix their eyes on what they will get, and most times people are to greedy so we need to control how we feel about money so that we won't get desperate and get in things that we are going to later regret.

Black Friday and other discount sales in different shops at different times of the year use this marketing strategy. I tend to compare prices before and during Black Friday, and I've noticed there's often no significant difference.

They just raise the original price, strike it out, and then display the 'discounted' price - which is equivalent to the normal price before Black Friday. It's all marketing tactics to make people think prices were slashed.

Meanwhile, prices were raised and then 'slashed' just for the psychological effect. It makes people feel like prices were reduced. It's all about choice, though: if you want to purchase, go ahead; if you don't, let the product slide.

And if you know fishing out these scammers is difficult for you, maybe you can't ascertain if the email is real or the link is legit. Maybe you should just get what you want from a physical store. If you can get this stuff from a physical store, then say no to online scams.

Scammers can literally clone a website - your favorite shopping website, your favorite gambling site, anything! These cybercriminals can take time to monitor your online activity, knowing the sites you visit most often. They'll try to exploit that.

When you click a link or respond to emails, they gain access to your online presence and accounts. Every time of the year is a great time to stay vigilant, as scammers don't have off-seasons. They're available from January to December but they tend to be more active during festive seasons - Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas promotions.

Many businesses offer promotions to appreciate their customers year end which scammers capitalize on these opportunities. We must be really vigilant and double-check links, always verify if they're original, not replicas created by cybercriminals.

Good as you exposed their plan ahead op, scammers have different strategies they use to play people in this industry which many people know how they operate some time, but some beginners are still falling victim to scammers in the community and they may fall victim to scammers on Friday because scammers know how to use free things or bonus to draw the attention of the beginners and they will believe and spend huge amount of funds on scammers project because they have be carrying away by the discount or bonus that involve in the project, well, Christmas and new year is approaching, which is the season many scammers use to showcase different scam products and strategies to convince people.

Thats the thing when you noticed some huge discount and a promotional banner somewhere. These scammers are good to make it looks like legit and if they also use crypto as payment from a brand that doesnt really supported it by their official site then you should worry enough that it might not be legit.

Wonder why people keeps doing shopping online while can go to physical store to buy some off products.

There are many non custodial and open source Bitcoin wallets to use, if you can not afford to buy hardware wallets, use these wallets because they're good wallets.

Non custodial.
Open source.

You have all you needs to store your bitcoin safely.

If you want to buy a hardware wallet, but don't want to spend money and buy it properly, in a right way, and you want to bargain its price for cheaper cost, it leads you to scammers.

[GUIDE] How to buy a Hardware Wallet the right way
[LIST] Open Source Hardware Wallets

Black Friday is a good opportunity to buy items at a discounted price and people take advantage of this opportunity. But I wouldn't wait until Black Friday before I buy an important item like a hardware wallet. Just because I want to save little money, one might incidentally grant criminals access to your hard-earned money. There is a saying in my tribe that cheap things usually have hidden defects. Some of the discounts offered by some trading platforms are too good to be true that is why we need to be careful. However, thank you OP for reminding us that we need to be vigilant.

black Friday on most shopping sites be it Jamia and what have you have become used to making use of this tactics to sell there items at a rather expensive rate than the ideal price slash they promise customers. if you have some set out item you intend buying during Jamia black Friday for instance, just go and check the current price and write it down and later come back to see the effect of the supposed 40% slash on the main Jumia Friday and you will notice that its all scam at the end of the day. at a time when scams it taking different form, one has to be over careful most especially when it relates to some of the things that appears to be too good to be true. the emotions that comes with the festive season is one factor that makes people fall victim to scam because they want to get things at a cheaper rate. save up the amount you're able to and leave in line with your budget so you don't lose more than you're trying to save while looking for cheap things or a price slash. its best to work with a trusted vendor you're used to and that you're sure will outlive the yuletide rater than patronizing an untrusted fellow just because of a promise of a price slash that might be all fake.

You must make sure the link comes from the real store so you will not have a worry when you want to buy the product. You can discuss with their support about the product before you check out and pay the product. Sometimes, the support may gives you a discount for their customer so you can hope this as a gift to you.

But the thing that you must aware is you don't have to use crypto to buy something from online. You can go to your local store to buy the product so you will prevents the scamming that may happen to you.

This is actually the worst thing one can do.  Purchase a well known Hardware Wallet for cheaper from a Scammer.  You are giving them your Bitcoin Address, your physical address and all your personal information too.  That could lead to a very disastrous ending.  It happened before, it can obviously happen in the future.

You know what they say about things that seem too good to be true.  I do not know how things are in other countries.  In mine, Black Friday is in itself mostly a Scam any way because most 'discounts' are fake.

The issue doesn't stop at email phishing links related to Black Friday; we also find them in search engines and social media, and in general, the Internet is crowded with fraudulent plans related to exaggerated discounts. Even websites that offer discount coupons should not be trusted, as they may redirect visitors to phishing sites that impersonate official store domains, which may look very similar.

In addition to these good tips,  installing an ad blocker and adding Phishing Site Detection extensions will provide solutions for more protection. Fraudsters target cryptocurrency pioneers through the most popular products in this sector, such as hardware wallets, Seed phrase storage, and clothes that bear crypto logos and the like, especially during peak seasons of the year to promote these things that call for greed, so you should not believe what they publish no matter how attractive it is.

Noticed this exact pattern with one of the most popular shopping sites in my country. I remember putting an item in my cart and didn't proceed with payment but when I returned during the black Friday sales to see if I can get the item cheaper, it was costlier than when it wasn't even black Friday yet.

The shops take advantage of us since people don't even compare price but just want to buy something when it's labelled as discounted. I prefer to buy anything I want before the festive period as it's no longer a secret that things get very experienced this time of year.

For the scams, only the gullible ones are falling for this, to avoid being one of the victim is to get yourself enlighten and Kudos to the OP for doing just that to those that'll read this thread.

In general I think that whole Black Friday thing is turning into big scam. And it's not even about scammers trying to steal your money. It's more about that it's getting difficult to find really good deals.
Sellers manipulate with 40%-50% discounts. They increase price just before Black Friday and then they add that huge fake discount. You have to follow price changes before buying something if you don't want to get ripped off.
And yeah, don't even talk about scams which is described in OP. During Black Friday it's way easier to find some victims.

Additional tips for staying safe in this season close to the festive period.

1. Don't go for offers to real to be true.
2. Don't be greedy or very eager for participation.
3. Make sure you check and double check on the intended platform used for this promotion.
4. Don't make payment or deposit in a bid to get rewarded back in multiple folds of your deposit.
5. Research and take time before going for any offer and don't rush while doing this.

If we can maintain a safety precautions in what we see online, then we will be far from being scammed, because many will be devising for more means to extort from others at this period using discounted offers.

Scammers are very smart and they can do anything to make sure they scam people, no matter how it is some people will still fall for the scammer trap and those who will fall for the trap are those who are very greedy, some people will not mind whether the person he is talking with is a scammer or not all that he wants is to have a good discount, I know everyone wants a good thing but some good things are not real.

Some people will see a notification in their email and they will click it and follow the instructions maybe they will have a chance to get something good, scammers will never get us if we are content with what we have, you look at the 100% of those who got scammed 80% of them are greedy people, to not let us fall in the scammers trap we need to be smart.

Good work OP but it's best everyone has the mentality that there is no off season for scams, you aren't meant to increase you guard at a point and drop it at another. It's best to maintain a high level of security consciousness especially when you are dealing with crypto-currency.

You should not only avoid clicking phishing links in relation to black Friday scams, you are expected to vet every links that are sent to you to avoid being sorry at the end of the day. To even further protect yourself you should If you can make use of cold storage wallet.
https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html you can learn how to set it up there.

The market isn't safe so you must ensure you to the best of your abilities protect yourself.

Cryptocurrency scam book is written about many scam types and avoid something is too good to be true, is one of principles to avoid scams.

Black Friday will be one of most favorite chances for scammers to send such offers to massive people who can become victims of scammers.