Ahead of Black Friday, new Barclays research has shown that shoppers are letting their guard down when it comes to online security, even as scams become harder to spot.

Its data suggests one in three UK adults (34%) have been targeted by, lost money to, or known someone caught out by a shopping scam.

Awareness and concern about online scams is on the rise, with two in three shoppers (67%) believing online scams are more prevalent now compared to a year ago. Half (49%) are more worried about falling victim to a scam than they were 12 months ago.

However, this worry is not translating into caution, with just over a third (36%) saying they would check if a website is genuine before buying.

A fifth (21%) also say they shop online while doing other activities, such as watching TV – rising to 31% of Millennials – meaning they could be more likely to miss warning signs, such as a misspelt web address or a deal that looks too good to be true.

“Black Friday is a great time to grab a bargain, and most of us know scams are out there. But when you’re scrolling on the sofa and a countdown timer starts ticking, or a deal pops up in your feed from an account that looks just like a brand you trust, it’s easy to get swept up and pay before you’ve had a chance to check,” Kirsty Adams, Fraud and Scams Expert at Barclays, commented.

Shoppers also think AI is making scams harder to spot; three quarters (76%) believe advances in AI have made online scams more convincing, with 43% saying fake retailer websites are now harder to distinguish from genuine sites.

The study also found that Gen Z is more than twice as likely as the average adult to have lost money to a Black Friday or Cyber Monday scam (7% vs 3%). This comes as Barclays’ own data showed online shopping scam claims from Gen Z rose +17% in H1 2026, while the overall value of their claims surged +56%, almost four times the overall rise (+14%).

This, Barclays suggests, comes down to the pressures Gen Z face when shopping online, with almost half (46%) saying they often feel pressurised by FOMO to buy sale items quickly.