3 scams that could ruin your Black Friday, Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the busiest shopping days of the year, and with the increase in shoppers comes the increased chance for shopping scams.

Several ways scammers dupe consumers are through the use of fake stores, gift cards and shipping notifications, local law enforcement officials said.

According to the Glendale Police Department, one tactic scammers employ is the use of fake stores to advertise great deals on social media.

“When you click on the link it takes you to a lookalike website of a major brand,” Glendale police said. “However, the gifts you order will never arrive.”

To avoid these types of scams, law enforcement officials recommend checking the spelling of the URL, as fake sites often have one letter that is off.

L.A. shoppers heading out early to snag Black Friday deals

Fake gift cards are another common type of scam.

“Scammers like to watch sites that sell gift cards,” law enforcement officials said. “They look for opportunities to steal [consumers’] financial information and send gift cards with no balance.”

The Glendale Police Department suggests that shoppers perform a reverse search to confirm if the seller is legitimate.

Another popular scam involves the use of fake shipping notifications where scammers send emails or texts of delivery updates with tracking links.

Those tracking links are not real, and instead are used to steal identities, police said.

To prevent being scammed by fake tracking links, authorities recommend tracking packages exclusively on official shipping sites, such as UPS, USPS or FedEx.

Not sure what to buy for yourself or your loved ones this weekend? Click here.

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