How Digital Scammers Exploit Artificial Intelligence During the "Black Friday" Season?

SadaNews - As the "Black Friday" season approaches, the internet becomes a crowded space filled with surprise offers: advertisements flashing everywhere and shoppers trying to snag the best deal before the countdown ends. This year's novelty isn't the deals themselves but the method by which we access them through artificial intelligence, which has become an intermediary between the shopper and the store. AI can search on behalf of the user, compare prices, suggest alternatives, and even select the "best deal" based on specific criteria.

However, while AI helps organize the purchasing process, the landscape of digital fraud is changing at a faster pace.

According to security reports, including warnings from "Kaspersky," scammers today utilize AI as a key tool in designing fake pages and crafting more convincing messages, especially during the sales season when urgency outweighs scrutiny.

Changes in Fraud Methods

Fraud no longer resembles the previous era of poorly crafted emails or primitively built pages. Now, attackers can create a site that matches a global store in terms of colors, layout, and language, even adding fake reviews generated by AI. In a moment when shoppers are busy chasing the cheaper deal, the aesthetic appeal of the design may overshadow their usual caution.

Interestingly, the challenge does not only come from outside but from the tools that people themselves use. Some rely on price tracking bots or browser extensions that assist in purchasing, without realizing that they ultimately act as "third parties" collecting their data. If these tools are unreliable or poorly designed, they could gather payment information or transfer the user to an insecure platform without making that clear. This is where AI becomes a new link in the trust chain, which could strengthen... or break.

Link Bypassing Trap

In its latest report on user behavior during busy seasons, "Kaspersky" notes that consumers tend to make quicker decisions than usual during the "Black Friday" season. This speed increases with the use of smart tools that save time but, in turn, place them in front of links they do not have enough time to test. In an environment relying on instant interaction, checking the link becomes a step easily bypassed. The difference between an original site and a fake one may just be one letter in the address, an unknown domain, or an interface being loaded through an anonymous server.

What complicates the discount season further is that the scammers' real target remains consistent: payment data. Whether it comes through a fake discount page or an unsecured smart app, the end goal is to access the bank card or the store account or the email linked to billing. These aspects remain the most sensitive, and yet many still allow AI tools to save their cards or pass them through gateways they know nothing about.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that AI is harmful or should be avoided. The reality is that these technologies have made shopping easier, more organized, and can empower users to make better decisions if used consciously. However, AI does not eliminate the need for security awareness nor replace human vigilance.

During "Black Friday," as in any discount season, the decisive factor remains a blend of awareness and calmness, especially at the moment when an enticing offer separates the "purchase request" from "banking information."

Between smart tools searching for the optimal offer and scammers using the same technology to disguise themselves as original platforms, this season appears as a realistic picture of an era that shares both ease and risk with artificial intelligence.

If there is a lesson to be drawn, it is that technology, no matter how advanced, cannot bear the responsibility of vigilance for the user. AI may assist you in shopping, but it cannot protect you if you click on a link you haven't verified.