As cybercrime gets more sophisticated, here are some tips to avoid online scams

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the beginning of the holiday shopping season is upon us.

Online and in stores, shoppers are looking to find deals – but experts are urging caution to avoid getting scammed.

"This is the biggest show of the year. So for organized criminals, as well as the bottom feeders, it's all about the end-of-year shopping spree," said cybersafety expert Claudiu Popa, founder of KnowledgeFlow Cybersafety Foundation.

"Every cybercriminal out there is poised to provide those deals. They're going to be putting up fake sites, they're going to provide low, low prices, and they're going to come right into your inbox to get your attention right off the bat. So make no mistake about it. It's going to be activity from now, right up until January."

Popa shares the following tips:

Check yourself and your own ability to detect fraud

Cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated, Popa said. You may think you are very digitally literate, but don’t let that make you overconfident.

"We're not talking about seven to 10 years ago, where every phishing email came riddled with spelling and grammatical mistakes. We're talking about emails that look exactly like the real thing. They look exactly like Amazon, PayPal, eBay, or any of your banks. So we're talking about a false sense of security that we need to check," he said.

Make sure you're on the right website

Type the correct website directly into your search bar and don't use a search engine like Google.

"This year, more than ever in the history of the internet, criminals have been spending so much money on advertising. The fake sites show up before the real sites. It's an unprecedented time in the internet where we're getting reports from users saying, 'I clicked onto the first link that appeared and Google sent me to the fraudulent website,'" he said.

Use a unique password for every site you register with

"At some point, one of these sites is going to get hacked. And the cybercriminals are going to take your password and plug it into all the other sites that they can think of and see if they can steal your identity from all those other sites," said Popa.

Install an ad blocker

It’s "the best use is against malvertising," or malicious advertising, said Popa.

Malvertising is a technique that uses online advertising to spread malware.

"These are weaponized ads. In some cases, they are presented to you as an image but it comes with a whole bunch of code on your computer and you don't know what it does."

Popa recommends Adblock Plus.

Shop on your desktop or laptop computer, not on a mobile device, so you can see all the details and be skeptical.

- With files from CTV News Montreal's Christine Long and Maya Johnson