It's almost Black Friday and whilst that's great news if you are trying snap a bargain it could be very bad news if you don't stay fully alert when shopping. With so many of us hitting online stores and trying to take advantage of the huge price cuts currently available, this is a prime time to be scammed.

Cyber crooks are always looking for easy ways to cash in and Black Friday offers an ideal opportunity for them to pounce. According to stats from Action Fraud, shoppers lost over £11.5 million to cyber criminals during last year's festive season.

Now, in a bid to help keep its users safe, Amazon has just sent out an email alert explaining some of the online dangers at the time of year. The online retailer is urging customers to watch out for messages that suggest people need to verify their accounts or phone calls that ask for personal data, including passwords.

If a deal arrives via text or email and looks too good to be true, it probably is, so it's also worth heading directly to a retailer's website before buying anything online.

Here are some of the top tips from Amazon to make sure you don't get scammed this Black Friday.

Tips to protect yourself from impersonation scams

Scammers posing as various organisations like Amazon may send you calls, texts, and emails with various tactics to try to deceive you to provide personal information or sign-in credentials.

What to watch out for?

Scammers may tell you there is a fraud investigation and you must “verify” your account or claim there is an unauthorised or fraudulent activity on your Amazon account.

How can you avoid being scammed?

Amazon will never ask you to share your password, account sign-in One-Time Password (OTP), or verify sensitive personal information over the phone. Visit the Message Centre on Amazon.co.uk or on the app to review authentic emails from Amazon.

Go directly to our website, and go to Your Account to make changes to your billing and account information.

Customer Service is available 24/7 to help with any questions you may have.

Keep others safe

If you receive communication — a call, text, or email — that you think may not be from Amazon, please report it to us at amazon.co.uk/reportascam.

Ahead of Black Friday, Amazon UK also says it is supporting the efforts of the Stop! Think Fraud campaign to help protect customers from scams.

The company says users should consider setting up 2-step verification (2SV) on their accounts as this makes it far harder for scammers to access things without permission.

For those not aware, 2-step verification requires a code to be sent to a second device before being able to log in.

Black Friday officially starts on November 29, and there are already plenty of deals to be grabbed from retailers, including Amazon, Argos, Currys and John Lewis.

It's a very good time to go online shopping but just be careful before buying anything online and never hand over any personal details as this could be a very costly mistake.