'SilkSpecter' hacking operation uses sophisticated ring of 4,700 spoofed storefronts to dupe shoppers looking for Black Friday deals—here's how to avoid getting scammed

A hooded figure is depicted running with a large sack, from which slips of paper featuring asterisks (symbolizing passwords or confidential information) are falling out. The background is solid red, creating a striking contrast and emphasizing the theme of cyber theft or data breach.

Sometimes a Black Friday deal really is too good to be true. As you might already suspect, the fast approaching winter quarter is prime time for scammers, and every year fake online storefronts become more sophisticated, working harder than ever before to part you from your hard-earned cash.

The Guardian reports that last Christmas shoppers in the UK lost £11.5m to scams leveraging a sophisticated arsenal of social media posts, online marketplaces, and AI. The newspaper notes that fairytale deals on high-end tech is just one tactic cybercriminals use to dupe shoppers.