Black Friday coupon scams are on the rise: here’s how to avoid dodgy discount codes this sale season

We’re heading right into the Black Friday sales season, with major online retailer Amazon already kicking off seasonal deals, but with such a savings blitz on the horizon, be wary of malicious websites and services online that could mislead you and put your personal data in danger. We keep a vigilant eye on the current threat of scams every month, but we’re lending a spotlight to coupon scams that could promise a good deal and result in nothing of the sort.

Before we get too into the weeds, you can trust TechRadar when it comes to the best coupons on tech products. We’re always updating our articles on HP discount codes, Dyson coupons, Samsung promo codes and more, with our discount codes sourced from brands and retailers directly. We don’t deal in dodgy discounts, and if it’s listed on one of our coupon pages, it’s a tested and verified coupon (though obviously keep in mind that such codes expire and will not last forever).

However there are plenty of sources for coupons out there that can pose a risk to you. The physical act of entering a dud code into a box at the checkout likely won’t result in any backlash, but the act of obtaining said coupon is another story.

We’re drilling our advice on staying coupon scam safe down into three easy to understand points. Read on to learn the best practices when it comes to fake discount code scams online.

1. Trust only legitimate websites, emails and social media posts

Call me biased, but TechRadar is a very good website, and as already mentioned, you can trust the coupon codes and deals that we mention in our articles. When it comes to lesser known websites that may offer ‘too good to be true’ deals, display a frenzy of ads or demand sign-ups or payments before displaying codes, things get murky.

A quick tell of a website’s legitimacy is its URL. If a fake coupon website were attempting to impersonate TechRadar, for example, the URL may be spelled differently or have a different address to .com (such as .xyz, .gg, or .tv). However, some scam websites won’t go down the impersonation route and will…