SOUTHLAND – (INT) – Most consumers do not believe that Black Friday offers the best deals of the year.

WalletHub found that only one out of three shoppers believe that Black Friday is the best day of the year for bargains.

Books, movies and music will have the best markdowns this Friday. There will also be significant savings on video game software and toys. Jewelry will only be about 4% cheaper on Black Friday.

WalletHub found that 31 percent of Black Friday items offer no savings.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris warns of monetary scams and online hackers. She offered these tips:

· Review your bank and credit card statements frequently for unusual transactions. Call your bank or credit card company to immediately report any suspicious activity.
· In the event of a security breach involving your debit or credit card, monitor your account and contact your bank promptly if you see any suspicious transactions. If you have been breached, you are also entitled to place a free initial fraud alert with one of the three national credit reporting companies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax); the reporting company must then notify the other credit reporting companies of the potential fraud.
· If the security breach involves your debit card, the best way to protect yourself is to immediately cancel the card and get a replacement card with a different number.
· If you receive a call from your credit card company that requests you to verify your account information for security reasons, ask to call the credit card company back and then call the telephone number listed on your credit card.
· Shipping e-mail scams are becoming increasingly common. Be wary of e-mails that appear to be from shipping companies that contain an attached file; this is a good indication that you have received a fraudulent e-mail that contains a virus. Also, during the holiday season, theft of packages becomes more common. If you do not have a secure area for delivery companies to leave a package, consider requiring a signature for packages or having packages held for pickup at a nearby shipping center.
· Parents and grandparents should be wary of scam artists who pretend to be a child or friend of a child who has encountered a medical or legal emergency and needs money immediately. Scammers are able to get personal information from social media to make the calls sound legitimate. A good way to avoid this situation is to have a secret word the child would use in an emergency situation.
· Scammers can use handheld scanners and counterfeit credit cards to use gift cards that they do not actually have. Only buy gift cards that are kept behind the store’s customer service counter or activated upon checkout. Before buying the card ask for it to be scanned to show that it is fully valued.

Story Date: November 27, 2015