Stay alert against phishing attempts: Experts

Meanwhile, UAE consumers have been advised to be on high alert throughout the Black Friday sales, as fraudsters use events such as these to launch advanced phishing campaigns to trick users into handing over their usernames and passwords for ecommerce portals and banking apps, along with payment card information.

Residents should be on the watch and not allow themselves to get tricked into transferring money to scammers, thinking that what they are offering is legitimate.

Over the past year, Group-ib's Digital Risk Protection team discovered more than 120,000 fraudulent domains linked to a major scam that saw scammers impersonate more than 500 brands in the Middle East and Africa by creating fake surveys and giveaways purporting to be from legitimate companies.

“We urge consumers to remain highly vigilant throughout the Black Friday period and to beware of offers that appear to be too good to be true. Internet users should be cautious when they click on advertisement links, double check that the URL matches that of the official shopping site, particularly when clicking on links shared in messaging apps or on social media,” said Ashraf Koheil, Group-ib's regional director for Middle East, Turkey and Africa.