If those Black Friday deals are too good to be true, chances are they are.

The day after Thanksgiving is reserved for blockbuster sales, not scams, but on Black Friday cybercrime is rampant, from fraudulent websites to fake ads that resemble fan favorite brands.

Fox News reports that 50% of online shoppers fall into scams every year, with 30% of cybercrime involving personal information or money happening on Black Friday and another 11% on Cyber ​​Monday.

“Now that it seems like everyone is shopping online, the reliance on digital platforms has given these groups a wider attack surface than ever,” Cody Barrow, the CEO of cyber defense company EclecticIQ, told CBS News. “Unfortunately, it is likely that we will see its impact continue into next week.”

EclecticIQ recently released a report that found thousands of fake websites using a fake “Trusted Store” badge in an attempt to steal financial information.

Sometimes the fraudulent sites look eerily similar to those of popular brands that offer deals on must-have products. Other times, the criminals make up ads that appear to be for Wayfair or IKEA, for example, and then stick them on social media and other sites.

Duped customers are likely unaware that they have been scammed until they never receive their order through the fake websites, which are becoming increasingly popular at this time of year.

“It’s very easy to create a fake e-shop that looks really realistic. The look and feel is great. You won’t be able to discover it that easily. So even we sometimes have trouble figuring out if something is real or not,” Leyla Blige of Norton’s Scam Research Labs told Fox News.

“You should think twice about scams because nowadays they are very complicated and advanced, especially when it comes to AI. Things become much more powerful.”

As companies prepare to break previous Black Friday records this year, experts offer tips to protect your finances and personal information from cybercriminals.

In addition to securing accounts as you normally would, Blige advises never trusting deals that are “too good to be true.”

“If something sells for, say, $100, you’re not going to get it for $10,” she explained. “So it’s not that you never get a 90% discount, but usually you get these kinds of crazy discounts on websites like this.”

Discrepancies on the same website are also a warning sign. Sometimes fraudulent sites advertise on their homepage that they accept all kinds of payments, but when customers check out, the site only accepts payments via PayPal or a gift card “because it’s difficult for us to track,” Blige said.

“If you see these kinds of inconsistencies between the first page and the last page, you have to be very careful,” she added.

When you are redirected to websites, keep your eyes peeled for unusual URLs, double-check that the web page you are visiting is legitimate, and make sure you read reviews.

“You may want to be very careful and check with third-party organizations that actually provide ratings on our organizations,” Bilge advised. “We actually have an AI-powered chatbot, which we call Norton Genie, that a user can easily control.”

On sites like Reddit, there are forums where you can check fellow shoppers for possible scams, and a simple Internet search will likely reveal fake sites as well, Blige said. Furthermore, URLs that start with ‘https’ are secure, while URLs that start with ‘http’ do not have a secure connection.

Smishing – a version of text messaging scams in which criminals send text messages that impersonate companies to trick recipients into handing over sensitive information – is also a danger during the holidays.

“They will tell you there is a problem with your payment, or that you need to make an additional payment so they can actually steal your money,” Bilge explains. “Or they could try to compromise personal information so they can use it for some other type of attack that could happen later.”

She recommended double-checking the sender’s email address or phone number, noting that it will be “some random characters” or an email address, “which is really suspicious.”

As a rule of thumb: don’t click on links from unknown senders.

“You’ll never get that email from Amazon or UPS with an email like that,” she warned.