Avoid these 3 holiday scams on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost here — and consumers shopping for the winter holidays should be on the lookout for online scams.

U.S. sales online are expected to hit $207 billion this holiday shopping season, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, according to Adobe. That’s a record and a 10% jump over 2020, a year in which the Covid pandemic pushed more consumers to shop digitally.

Cyber weekend — the period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday — will draw about 17% of all sales this holiday season, Adobe estimates.

Seventy-five percent of American adults anticipate their e-commerce through big retailers like Amazon or Walmart will be similar to or increase relative to the 2020 holiday season, according to a recent AARP survey.

Criminals will likely try to take advantage of the volume — and of unwary consumers.

Online shopping accounted for about 58,000 Covid-related consumer fraud reports from January 2020 to Oct. 18 this year, more than any other category of fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers lost a total $48 million.

“We are entering a sensitive holiday and tax period, and we urge people to protect their personal information,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said Friday in an alert, which warned of potential identity thieves using that data to file fraudulent tax returns.

Here are three common scams to watch for around this time of year.

The issue may be more present than past years due to supply-chain issues and higher prices for some goods. Consumers are expected to pay 9% more during Cyber Week, on average, in 2021 relative to 2020, according to Adobe.

“Out-of-stock notifications have remained high throughout 2021 and will remain a challenge over the season,” Adobe said in its annual holiday shopping forecast.

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There are some telltale signs of fraud: A fake site’s domain name will have an extraneous letter or number, and the site may have grammatical errors or limited contact information, according to Social Catfish.

Consumers should research unfamiliar companies and read customer reviews, or search for the company name online along with the word “scam,” Social Catfish advised. Also, don’t buy a product via wire transfer, money order or gift card.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are “becoming hotbeds for deception,” according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The platforms have amplified harmful content during the pandemic, the federal agency said.

Around the holidays, brands…