Black Friday Spam Alert: German Email Providers Warn of Fraud Surge

German email providers Web.de and GMX are warning of a sharp increase in fraudulent emails in German inboxes ahead of Black Friday. Security experts at the two services currently detect around 212 million spam emails per day, the providers said on Tuesday. In October, daily spam totaled 183 million messages, marking an increase of roughly 16 percent.

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“During Black Week, many people are in bargain mode, and that’s exactly what fraudsters are counting on,” explained Arne Allisat, head of email security at Web.de and GMX. Black Friday in the United States falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is always the fourth Thursday in November. The day kicks off the Christmas shopping season.

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Common scams include fake Black Friday contests from major online retailers such as Ikea or the ADAC, the email providers said. To steal personal data, victims are lured via fake newsletters to fraudulent websites claiming prizes, contests, or contract benefits.

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Currently, “cloud storage phishing” is particularly widespread, the services added. In these cases, senders use “warnings that appear convincingly real” from U.S. companies like Google Drive or iCloud, claiming the recipient’s online storage is full. A link then directs users to a fake login page.

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There are also many “finance phishing” emails in circulation, in which fake alerts like “unauthorized debit” are sent, allegedly from online banks or payment providers. Web.de and GMX explained that the “urgency” in these messages is intended to trick users into revealing their login details. This is “a typical emotional trigger that works especially well during Black Week.”

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Even if a spam filter fails to catch a suspicious email, users should remain calm and perform a “mental mini-check,” Web.de and GMX recommend. It is simplest to ask who exactly is writing, what the sender wants, whether the mentioned transaction is known, and if there are small errors. “If the answer to even one of these questions raises doubts, then you should definitely be suspicious and mark the email as ‘spam’,” Allisat explained. Doing so also helps train the email filter to classify such messages as unwanted.

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