Black Friday has transformed from a shopping bonanza into what experts are now calling 'Scam Friday', as sophisticated artificial intelligence tools provide fraudsters with unprecedented power to deceive British consumers.
The AI-Powered Threat to Shoppers
Watchdogs are raising urgent concerns about how generative AI cons are impacting the annual shopping event, with potentially dire economic consequences. According to payment giant Visa, the average victim loses approximately £125 per person, though many suffer far greater financial damage.
James Moore highlights the human cost behind these statistics, warning shoppers to expect heartbreaking stories in coming days about elderly couples having their bank accounts emptied or carers whose children will receive no Christmas presents despite months of careful saving.
How Scammers Exploit Digital Habits
Generative AI has become the villain of this piece, enabling fraudsters to create convincing fake content that easily bypasses traditional scam detection methods. A survey conducted for Visa by Opinium between August and September 2025 revealed alarming consumer behaviour: 44% of respondents had believed AI-generated content was genuine before discovering it was fake.
The research found that nearly a third (32%) of people rarely read beyond headlines before forming opinions, while almost a fifth (19%) reshare posts without verifying accuracy. These habits create perfect conditions for scammers using AI to mimic well-known brands and create polished, error-free fraudulent communications.
Brand Impersonation Reaches Epidemic Levels
Cybersecurity firm Darktrace identified brand impersonation as a particularly concerning technique, with threat actors using generative AI to create convincing emails pretending to be from household brands offering special promotions. The company discovered a staggering 201% increase in phishing attempts mimicking retailers in the week before America's Thanksgiving (November 15-21).
In an analysis of global consumer icons, Darktrace found that Amazon was the most impersonated brand, accounting for 80% of phishing attempts. The problem extends beyond traditional security measures, as fraudulent websites with slightly altered domain names - such as 'Waimart' instead of Walmart - proliferate rapidly.
The economic damage is very real, and while large brands suffer reputational harm, smaller businesses face the greatest impact. Visa estimates that approximately 9 million people have changed how they shop online after being scammed, with over a third (35%) of targeted individuals now avoiding smaller or unfamiliar brands.
With organised criminals operating from locations including Russia, China, and West Africa, legal prosecution remains challenging. The most effective protection requires consumers to police their own habits: never click through on emails or social media ads, instead navigating directly to official websites, and meticulously checking domain names before making purchases.
