Consumers warned to 'be on high alert' for Black Friday fraudsters

An estimated €25,000 will be spent every minute during the single-day shopping splurge.

Consumers have been warned to take extra care to avoid fraud on Black Friday, with an estimated €25,000 being spent every minute during the November, single-day, shopping splurge.

AIB said its data show more than €8,000 a minute will be spent buying clothes online alone, or a 232% increase compared to a normal day. 

"This equates to over 135,000 transactions on clothing websites throughout the day, or approximately two transactions every second. On a normal day, the number of online clothing transactions is a fraction of that, coming in at just 40,000," AIB said.

Black Friday takes place this Friday, November 26, and has become one of the most anticipated consumer events of the year recently, despite many experts saying it is merely slick marketing and illusory bargains on display, rather than real money-saving deals.

British website Money.co.uk estimates that around 430,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions will be released into the atmosphere by Black Friday deliveries.

This year's Black Friday also takes place in the aftermath of the United Nations Cop26 climate change conference, where fashion leaders vowed to reduce emissions with updated targets under the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.

It pledged to halve emissions by 2030, with a promise to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050 – considerably higher than the previous target set of 30% aggregate greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030. Some 130 firms have signed the fashion charter including Kering (owner of Gucci, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Lauren), Chanel, Nike, and Puma.

AIB said that its data showed that clothing ranks first for consumer spending on Black Friday, followed by electronics, hardware, health and beauty, and jewellery.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said that debit and credit card fraud losses of €24.1m occurred in 2020, with over 275,000 fraudulent debit and credit card transactions. Fraud losses rose by 9% in 2020 with 96% perpetrated online, BPFI added.

BPFI head of payments, Gillian Byrne, said that the latest card fraud figures are a "stark reminder that consumers need to be on high alert" during Black Friday and Christmas.

"With concerns around rising Covid figures drawing ever more consumers online, fraudsters are again stepping up their efforts to take advantage of this increase in online shopping," she said.