While millions of users look for the best discounts on the Black Fridaycybercriminals also look forward to this date with eagerness and anticipation, although not for the opportunity to get a television or a stylish jacket at a discount. And these dates present the perfect conditions for their illegal activities such as phishingby generating by mixing high traffic on commercial sites with floods of promotional messages and the rush of users to capture that unique offer.
MIRA: Can they hack you and steal your accounts just for opening a website?
“They are the most anticipated events for cybercriminals, since they have the greatest window of opportunity to maximize profits”he states in conversation with The Commerce Leandro Cuozzo, security analyst in the Global Research and Analysis Team for Latin America at Kaspersky. The reason is simple: in the midst of this avalanche of promotions, users let their guard down and it becomes much more difficult to distinguish a legitimate offer from a scam.
According to the Kaspersky Threat Landscape, Peru recorded more than 110 million phishing attacks in the last yearwhich meant an average of 302 thousand per day. The technique remains one of the most profitable in cybercrime: 31% of affected users in the region lost between 100 and 500 dollars in fraud related to online purchases. That is why to protect our data (and wallets) we present this note with recommendations to safely buy this Black Friday and at the other end of the year holidays.
Thus, during this type of festivities, the proliferation of malicious websites that imitate well-known stores to trap unwary people increases significantly, while newly created profiles on social networks promise incredible “exclusive discounts” if you enter immediately. It also happens that our emails and other courier services receive supposed notices from banks, businesses or shipping services that require you to carry out a ‘procedure’ to restore a service or recover a lost package.
“They play with people’s emotions by telling you ‘hurry up because your order won’t arrive, your account will be deleted or the offer ends in minutes’,” points out the expert. “When they ask you to click or share information, it is always a red flag”
Once the user logs in, the next step is usually a fake page. Some replicate the design, colors and logos of well-known brands in detail. Even the URL can be misleading, being extremely similar to the original.
“The attackers register almost identical domains. They even use alphabets like Cyrillic, where the letters look the same, but they are not. At first glance, the site looks legitimate,” explains Cuozzo.
The advancement of AI technologies has amplified the problem, allowing cybercriminals to reduce costs and time to create websites identical to real ones and launch massive campaigns. “Today any group with few resources can send thousands of emails and create sites almost identical to the originals with a couple of clicks”says the expert. “Additionally, artificial intelligence increases the quality of the deception and internationalizes it, with malicious messages no longer appearing to be written by someone who does not speak Spanish, but instead using local slang and adapting to each country. They even add ‘deepfakes’ to make their deceptions more complex.
The results are horrifying and according to data from Kaspersky, 65% of Peruvians do not identify a fake site and ends up interacting with it, usually with dire results. And if an unwary person enters personal information, credentials or card numbers, it is most likely that these will be used to make fraudulent purchases or that they will end up being sold on the black market. In Peru, around 30% of users have already suffered fraud with bank accounts or cards.
Prevent so as not to regret
In the middle of the shopping season, the first filter is the user themselves. Cuozzo recommends not getting carried away by impulse and applying a basic verification:
- Parse the message: If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Also check that there are no spelling mistakes or strange texts, blurry images or other suspicious details.
- Check the sender: A suspicious email or profile is the first sign. If this is a seller, do they have verified sales? How long has your profile been up? If it claims to be from a company, your email domain is appropriate or it is a Gmail or another public email service.
- Confirm on the official website: Check that the site has protocol https and valid certificate. “If you have doubts, manually go to www.latiendaqueconoces.com. Don’t always trust Google results, because attackers buy advertising to position false sites.
- Distrust data requests: Do not enter sensitive information on dubious pages or apps and never share passwords or bank details by message or email. “Legitimate promotions do not include requests for personal information by message or email,” the expert recalled.
Regarding malware, the specialist clarifies that it is difficult to become infected just by entering a site, but it does happen when the victim download and run files that promise invoices, receipts or supposed updates.
In any case, the expert recommends always making any purchase or procedure online using a secure device that has an updated operating system and antivirus and always avoiding public Wi-Fi networks.
What to do if I have already fallen into fraud?
If you have fallen into a trap, you need to act quickly and decisively. Here are some recommendations
- Report the incident on the platform (social network, online store), before the police or before cybercrime agencies.
- Change passwords if credentials were compromised.
- Contact the bank or card issuer to block them if there were suspicious movements.
- Report fraudulent charges immediately.