Happy Friday my friend!
Cybercrime is back in full swing post-covid. 2023 if on track to being the most profitable year yet for criminals. So this email is both to give you the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals I've found as well as what to look out for from those darn scammers.
First, the deals!
In my experience, post Thanksgiving shopping "deals" are usually retailers unloading their lowest end products at a discount. While that's still certainly true, there are some legitimate good buys out there on quality products that will last longer than a budget buy.
Top Pick:
Amazon, $99.95 (regularly $199.95). Why? It's on sale now for about half price and if you haven't used a W1 enabled headphone device, it's pretty neat. The W1 chip eliminates all the confusing bluetooth pairing process (Apple only) extends the bluetooth range from around 30 feet to 150 feet and extends battery life to around 40 hours, which is nuts. W1's chips are only built with a handful of bluetooth headphones - this is one of them.
Runner up:
Amazon, $54.99 (regularly $99.99). Why? Ring has built up quite an ecosystem. If you already have a ring, you know how useful they are. This is an inexpensive way to add a ring camera to your defensive line or get started with one.
Best guide: Tech Radar's 2023 Cyber Monday guide is the best I've found. They've rounded up the best deals available on electronics and home goods from Walmart, Dell, Amazon, Best Buy and Apple. Can be a real time saver for you.
Now, the scams
Many thanks to Roseanne Frietas from Hawaii's Better Business Bureau for going on KHON2 to help make our community aware of the latest scams hitting the streets. Here are some tips she shared from the BBB:
▪ Check out the company you're buying from before clicking the purchase button
▪ Is the retailer based in North American and does it have a local presence? A whole lot of online retailers are overseas, may have long delivery times, non-existent return policies and could be straight-up fake, pop-up scam websites that take your money and never deliver anything.
▪ When in doubt, check their social media (and BBB) presence. Are the comments a little too nice? If so, they're probably fake. Sometimes a quick 10-second Google search is all that's needed to find out the site is a scam and to stay away.
In my humble opinion, you have a 99% chance of not being scammed by shopping only from reputable online retailers (such as Amazon) or those companies that also have brick and mortar stores such as Walmart, Apple, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.
Keep in mind, if the price is too good to be true, it probably is. Don't buy and keep looking!
Stay safe out there.
-Attila
New Friday Funnies
How can you tell which of your friends got a good Black Friday deal? Don’t worry, they’ll let you know.
