Be careful - don't let Black Friday turn into Blue Monday!

Beware of fake online stores and use various tips to uncover the different warning signs.

John Erik Setsaas / December 12, 2023

Black Friday has become a day of countless great deals that many look forward to. It is a day when stores want to encourage us to shop as much as possible, and therefore they advertise intensively in both digital and physical channels with a wide range of tempting offers.

On Black Friday, criminals also take advantage of the opportunity to increase their own profits, and they look for opportunities to scam us out of both large and small amounts. These scammers are highly skilled and now also use artificial intelligence to create enticing offers that appeal to each of us individually. A common method they use to deceive us is by creating fake online stores. These online stores are often replicas of legitimate stores and try to give us a false sense of security based on familiar brands we trust. We are tricked into visiting these online stores through social media, email, or text messages that contain links to the fake websites. Unfortunately, many people will be fooled into paying money directly into criminals' accounts or giving away their credit card details this year as well.

The criminals are adept at finding new ways to try to deceive us. In Tietoevry Banking Financial Crime Prevention, we work hard to prevent as much fraud as possible. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, as the number of legitimate transactions is extensive. According to the Financial Supervisory Authority's 2022 report, fraud accounts for only 0.021% of the total number of transactions, which corresponds to around 219 million Norwegian kroner. We also use artificial intelligence to detect fraud, and we are able to prevent most of it. However, we also rely on the help of each individual to combat financial crime.

Here are some tips to detect scam attempts:

If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Think before you click. Instead, manually enter the online store's address in your browser.
Do you trust the online store? Have you shopped there before, or is it brand new?
Is it really the authentic online store, or is it a replica?
Do you know others who have shopped there? Don't be fooled by Facebook ads with many positive comments.
Scammers can manipulate both ads and comments. If you're unsure, it's safest to stay away.

John Erik Setsaas

Director of Innovation, Financial Crime Prevention

With over 25 years’ experience in digital identity, John Erik Setsaas is a pioneer in this space. He has deep knowledge in the areas of digital onboarding, authentication, electronic signatures and seals, time stamping and digital identity wallet.

He is a prolific speaker at fintech industry events around the world.