Top 10 Black Friday Cyber Scams to Watch Out For

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are huge retail shopping events online, and with them come growing numbers of scams.

Watch out for these potentially dangerous efforts to rob you

According to the website Wealth of Geeks founder Michael Michael Dinich (by way of Journo Research), the number of scams is increasing.

  Wealth of Geeks is a company specializing in helping people grow their wealth, and invest wisely, and with other financial matters.

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The top ten scams include: (in no particular order)

*Incorrect banking deals.   If you receive urgent emails from an alleged retailer claiming your banking or billing information is incorrect, and you must correct it or lose a great deal, it is suspicious. Don't click on it.

*Hot deal scams.  These often offer goods that are hard to find elsewhere and often have a lower than 'normal' price. If you receive these emails, check their legitimacy with the Better Business Bureau before even thinking about clicking or buying.

 *Phishing email scams.  These often appear as pop-ups, or 'urgent' emails asking you to look at amazing holiday buys. Again, before you click or enter their often fake pages, utilize what information you can from the address or email with BBB.

 *"Fake tracking number scams.  These often show up unannounced. When you purchase an item, a legitimate business will provide you immediately with a tracking number so you can follow the progress of your order. These often just 'show up' and urge you to click on them. Keep track of your orders, and ignore these other spam attempts.

 *Instant messaging or text scams.  These come in the form of unsolicited text or social media instant messages, and scammers often copy the URL of a legitimate business. Before you click on the text or message link, go to the actual business website and see if that deal is actually being offered.

*Fake Charity scams.  These are from scammers who set up dummy or fraudulent charity organizations and try to get you to donate online. Confine your charity giving to agencies you know are legitimate, a good idea is to focus on local giving.

*Fake social media profiles, and fake product reviews.  Getting friend requests from people you don't know, or that look suspicious is a ruse this time of year, as are fake product reviews. These often involve Amazon reviews.  If you wish to review a product, go to the actual Amazon website or other 'real' business and read them there.

"grey market" distribution. These scams have to do with third-party vendors or others who sell products online. These often affect the ability to return a defective or unwanted product. These 'grey' or outside the main company methods of distribution are outside of the control of the actual company.

*online gift or discount card scams.   Some scammers will copy and spoof legitimate retailers to offer you discounts or gift cards online, only to find the cards are empty or not able to be activated.  A good idea is to only purchase them from the actual business website, if they are offered, or in the store itself.