Black Friday is Nov. 27, and the early sales have already started. Black Friday scams ride along with them: fake stores that copy a real shop’s look, take your card number, and never ship a thing. You can spot most of them in about a minute, before you pay, if you know where to look.
The short version
Fake stores and fake delivery texts are the two Black Friday scams most likely to reach you this month. Here is how to spot them and what to do if one already got your money.
- People reported losing $503,373,587 to non-payment and non-delivery scams in 2025, across 56,478 complaints, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
- That works out to about $8,900 lost per complaint, on average.
- Type a store’s address yourself instead of tapping an ad or a text, and check the spelling letter by letter.
- Pay with a credit card. You have 60 calendar days after a charge shows up on your statement to send a written billing dispute.
- If you already paid a fake store, call your card company or bank right away, then report it at ic3.gov.
What changes for you: this is the month when one wrong tap costs the most. Prices on hot items really do drop, so a fake deal no longer looks strange. The checks below take less time than filling in a checkout form.
How common are Black Friday scams?
Common enough to plan for. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) groups these scams as non-payment and non-delivery. Non-delivery is when “payment is sent, and goods or services are never received.” In its 2025 annual report, IC3 logged 56,478 of those complaints and $503,373,587 in losses.
We did the math: that is about $8,900 per complaint. In 2024 there were fewer complaints, 49,572, but bigger losses, $785,436,888, or about $15,800 each. These are only the cases people reported, so the real number is higher.
Seven signs a Black Friday store is fake
- The price is far below every other store. A $400 console for $129 is not a doorbuster. It is bait. Compare the price at two stores you already know.
- The web address is almost right. Look for extra words (“-deals”, “-outlet”, “-official”), swapped letters, or an ending you do not expect. Fake shops copy the logo perfectly. The address is where they slip.
- You found it through an ad or a stranger’s post. A store you have never heard of, found through a social media ad, deserves extra checks before you pay.
- It wants payment by gift card, wire transfer, crypto or a payment app. Real stores take cards. A store that steers you away from a card is steering you away from a refund.
- There is no real way to reach anyone. No phone number, no street address, only a contact form or a free email address.
- The return policy is missing or makes no sense. Real stores spell out returns, especially in the holiday season.
- A countdown timer is yelling at you. “Only 2 left, 4 minutes remaining” is built to stop you from checking anything.
If you are not sure a price is real, our guide on how to tell if a Black Friday deal is really a deal shows how to check price history before you buy.
Watch out for fake delivery texts too
The second wave of Black Friday scams comes after you shop. A text or email says your package is stuck and asks you to tap a link to “update your address” or pay a small fee. When you are waiting on five orders, it sounds believable.
Do not tap the link. Open the store’s app, or type the carrier’s address yourself, and check the tracking number from your order email. A real delivery problem will show up there. Scam messages are often written cleanly now, so spelling mistakes are not a reliable clue. Our list of AI scam warning signs covers what to look for instead.
How to check a store in 60 seconds
- Close the ad or text. Type the store’s address into your browser yourself, or use the store’s own app.
- Search the store’s name plus the word “scam” or “reviews”. If the store has no history at all, walk away.
- Open the contact page. Look for a street address and a phone number, then call it if the order is big.
- Read the return policy. If you cannot find one in two clicks, do not buy.
- At checkout, choose a credit card. If the site only offers gift cards, wire transfer, crypto or a payment app, close the tab.
Why a credit card is your best protection
A credit card gives you a formal way to fight a bad charge. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says you should call your card company right away, and to protect your rights you must also send a written billing error notice within 60 calendar days after the charge appeared on your statement. The card company then has 30 days to confirm it got your dispute.
Debit cards, gift cards, wire transfers and crypto are much harder to claw back once the money leaves. For online shopping this month, use a credit card, and keep your debit card for the grocery store.
What to do if you already paid a fake store
- Call your card company or bank today. Ask them to dispute or stop the charge. IC3’s advice for a fraudulent transfer is that time is of the essence: contact your bank and ask for a recall of the funds.
- Report it at ic3.gov, whatever the amount, with the store’s address, your receipt and any messages.
- Change your password if you created an account on the fake site and used that password anywhere else. Then check whether your email has shown up in a data breach.
- Ignore anyone who offers to get your money back for a fee. That is the follow-up scam. IC3 says it will never directly contact you for information or money.
One more habit worth keeping all season: before you buy anything big, set a spending limit and stick to it. Our holiday tech budget guide makes that easy, and a budget makes a “too good to be true” deal easier to ignore.
