November 24th is marked on the calendar as “black Friday,” a date that has already become the starting point for a period of high consumption leading into Christmas and January sales, and once again, it is fraught with traps on the World Wide Web.

Phishing, vishing, sim swapping, or in other words, capturing private data, fraudulent phone calls, or SIM card duplication, are some of the main cyber threats that lurk during periods of high consumption. In addition to the advice from consumer organizations to exercise caution with offers, cybersecurity experts add their advice to avoid risks, scams, and frauds.

The main points include not rushing and verifying before clicking a link to make a purchase. Be suspicious of prices that seem too good to be true, grammatical errors on websites, and sites that do not provide information about their physical addresses, phone numbers, or contact emails.

With the increase in online shopping, the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE) – part of the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation – has emphasized the importance of using the “official” websites of preferred stores for each consumer.

INCIBE has observed how a large part of the population prefers to make purchases online because it is practically impossible not to find what the consumer is looking for, for convenience and savings, and because there are usually better discounts and promotions than in physical stores. Coinciding with Black Friday and the start of this shopping period, INCIBE has launched the “#CompraCibersegura” campaign.

As part of this campaign, the Institute has opened a section on its website (Secure Online Shopping) to provide users with information on secure payment methods, how to buy online through mobile devices, how to recognize fraudulent stores, or how to perform a “reverse search” of an image to ensure the consumer is confident in what they are buying and where it is being sold.

Many of these purchases will reach consumers through the public company Correos, whose cybersecurity experts have also joined the stream of advice to make these acquisitions safely and avoid scares and surprises.

Protecting information and personal data should be the priority during these periods of high consumption, according to experts from this company, who have emphasized the need to exercise caution on websites that are not trustworthy.

They have also highlighted the importance and usefulness of conducting quick searches to find reviews and opinions from other users about unknown websites, being cautious of excessively low prices and suspicious offers, and being wary of sites that offer items that are sold out in most stores.