Fraud Black Friday
Putting an End to Black Friday Fraud
By Nicholas Rossman, Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF)
There is an hilarious episode in the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, where, in a misguided promotion, Station Manager Mr. Carlson launches live turkeys from a helicopter, genuinely believing they could fly. I used to think no one in real life could be that naive.
But modern fraudsters are master storytellers. They do not rely on us being foolish; they rely on sophisticated social engineering to make the impossible—like a free latest-model smartphone or a 90% discount—seem entirely plausible. They create a momentary reality where turkeys really can fly, and by the time we realize gravity still applies, the damage is done.
Because these scams operate across borders and networks, no single company can fight them alone. This is where the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) steps in—not just as an observer, but as the convening force for the industry. MEF brings together fierce competitors—mobile operators, aggregators, and tech providers—to share intelligence and build a united defence. Our goal is to ensure that while turkeys might not fly, the mobile ecosystem remains grounded in trust.
Real life damage
Black Friday is not just a retail event; it is the Super Bowl for fraudsters. The volume of attacks during this period is staggering. According to data from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Action Fraud, UK shoppers lost over £11.5 million to online criminals between November 2023 and January 2024 alone. The average loss per victim was nearly £700.
Lloyds Bank analysis found that purchase scams surge by 29% around Black Friday. These aren’t just clumsy attempts; they are targeted strikes; fraudsters are creating a spectacle of legitimate-looking commerce.
This seasonal spike is a symptom of a bigger problem. According to the MEF Anti-Fraud Yearbook 2024, global fraud losses reached an estimated $1.026 trillion in 2023. To put that in perspective, that is roughly 1.05% of global GDP.
Furthermore, MEF’s 10th Annual Consumer Trust Study highlights the human cost: 47% of consumers reported receiving spam texts in the last year, while 38% specifically reported receiving fraudulent messages. This constant bombardment erodes trust, making users wary of even legitimate mobile engagement.
Today’s fraud is driven by organized crime syndicates equipped with enterprise-grade technology. They are leveraging Artificial Intelligence to polish their scripts, removing the typos and grammatical errors that used to be the tell-tale signs of a scam. They are using automation to scale their attacks, ensuring that for every savvy shopper who spots the trap, thousands more are put at risk.
Helping consumers
Stopping, or at least reducing fraud, requires a sophisticated, coordinated defence. The cornerstone of this is MEF’s Best Practices to Enable Trusted Business Messaging. This is a blueprint for a harmonized global defence. The philosophy is simple but powerful: fraud ignores borders, so our defence must be equally borderless.
The most visible part of this fight for the consumer is the protection of “Sender IDs.” The Sender ID is the name that appears on your phone screen—it is the digital equivalent of a uniform. Fraudsters have long exploited this, dressing up their scams in the uniforms of trusted banks or delivery companies.
Under the new best practices, rigorous “Right-To-Use” (RTU) checks are implemented. Before a brand can send a message, they must prove they are who they say they are. It is a strict “verify, then trust” model. Stopping fraud before it starts.
However, verifying a sender in one country is not enough if they can simply hop to a network in a neighbouring region to launch their attack. This is why “Global Registry Coordination” is needed. By harmonizing requirements across different markets and sharing intelligence between national registries, we shrink the hiding spots for bad actors.
This initiative represents a fundamental shift. Rather than the consumer always having to be on the lookout (and I still recommend you do think carefully about ‘too good to be true’ offers) the industry is creating a chain of trust that includes everyone from the brand sending the message to the operator delivering it. It ensures that when a Black Friday deal lands in your inbox, it is a genuine offer, not a turkey in disguise.
Fraudsters will always try to sell us a reality that doesn’t exist. But with the right safeguards in place, and a united industry standing guard, we can ensure that the only thing dropping this Black Friday are the prices—not our defences.
ABOUT THE MOBILE ECOSYSTEM FORUM
Nicholas Rossman is a Programme Director at The Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), a global trade body established in 2000 and headquartered in the UK with members across the world. As the voice of the mobile ecosystem, it focuses on cross-industry best practices, anti-fraud and monetisation. The Forum provides its members with global and cross-sector platforms for networking, collaboration and advancing industry solutions.
Web: https://mobileecosystemforum.com/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/mef
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mobile-ecosystem-forum
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