You know retailers are ready for Black Friday--<A HREF="http://www.cio.com/article/156703/Hackers_Poised_for_Black_Friday_Assault">but so are hackers</A> poised to launch a slew of Web-based attacks against consumers. Your money and personal information could be at risk. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is followed in marketing lingo by Cyber Monday. Both are big days for retailers and online fraudsters. Consumers should watch out for emails advertising incredible deals that seem too good to be true.

A common scam is to pick the hot toy of the season and send out a spam email blast offering it for much less than the typical price. Victims end up entering credit card information on malicious sites designed to look like well-known, trusted ones. They might also unknowingly download a keylogger that can steal personal information people type in when making any kind of Internet transaction.