Police and banks tell shoppers to be vigilant for Black Friday scams

Police said crime over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period last year defrauded online shoppers in Britain of ?2.5m.

Many never received goods they ordered from unfamiliar websites, and some were subsequently targeted by criminals using bank details given during transactions.

More than ?15m was lost through fraud in the run-up to Christmas in 2020, with more than 28,000 reports of scams costing an average of more than ?500. The numbers rose significantly because many bargain hunters were still avoiding high street shops, with a second lockdown imposed in the days before Christmas. Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, said that the incidence went up by 61% from 2019.

Action Fraud has advised consumers to take additional checks when shopping online, as Black Friday approaches on 26 November.

Younger people were likely to be at risk, with just over a quarter of reports to the police coming from twentysomethings and more than half of scams involving electronic goods being purchases of games consoles such as Xbox or PlayStation.

The bank said the online sales were a great opportunity for fraud, and scammers often targeted victims again using details gathered in the first scam.