Misbar’s Analysis
As the holiday season approaches, staying informed about cyber scams can help ensure festive fun remains uninterrupted. The holiday season provides an opportunity for scammers to exploit busy shoppers who are focused on celebration rather than chaos. However, understanding common scams today can help ensure a safe and enjoyable holiday season.
This guide outlines what holiday cyber scams are and provides practical ways to avoid them.
What Are Cyber Scams and Frauds?
Cyber scams and frauds are deceptive schemes by scammers to exploit the internet and social engineering to steal money, obtain personal and financial information, or access various accounts. Scammers typically execute their frauds through phishing messages and emails, fake websites and marketplaces, social engineering, or fraudulent investment opportunities.
“In 2022, Amazon spent $1.2 billion to crack down on fake products appearing on its platform,” Avast reported.
Find below an example of a gift card scam email:
Holiday Cyber Scams
Holiday cyber scams, often referred to as online shopping scams, intensify during the holiday season due to the rise in online shopping. Additionally, it is a time when hoax charities exploit the giving season, persuading people to donate to fake causes.
Holiday cyber scams can often be identified by recognizing obvious clues. “They’ll often advertise luxury products at enticingly low prices, which is an initial tipoff that you’re dealing with a scam. Another clue that you’re dealing with a scam is if they ask for payment through nontraditional channels like gift cards, wire transfers, and cryptocurrency,” Ivan Belcic said. Later, you might receive a low-quality product—or nothing at all.
Who Is a Money Mule?
The person recruited by a scammer to receive illegal payments from victims for short-term profit in return is known as a "money mule."
How Do You Identify a Money Mule?
According to Suryoday Bank, money mules can be identified by the following red flags:
- Unusual money transfer activities, such as payments with no legitimate contracts, products, or services received.
- Being asked to work as a local representative for an overseas company. They may ask for an "agent" to help them.
- A job description that is unclear and seems ambiguous with insufficient details.
- A requirement stating, "No experience or education is required."
- Being informed that "All processes are done online."
- Unprofessional emails with poor grammar and writing.
- Receiving emails from web-based servers like Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail.
Types of Holiday Cyber Scams and Attacks
Holiday Phishing Emails
Scammers often benefit from holiday cyber scams through emails containing URLs that collect your personally identifiable information (PII). These emails typically include:
- Fake promotions.
- Special holiday gifts that mimic popular brands.
- Cellphone promo frauds.
- Order confirmations for purchases you did not make, with a link to view order details (but it is a scam link).
- A year-end invoice attachment with an unusual file extension, designed to deceive you into
- downloading a malicious file or transferring money to a fake bank account.
- Prize and vacation notifications.
- Recovery offers.
- Romance fraud.
You may notice some indicators, such as:
- Unusual greetings.
- Unusual subject lines.
- Offers that seem too good to be true.
- Strange or suspicious domains.
- Urgent tone.
- Grammatical and spelling errors.
- Suspicious links.
Christmas Smishing
Using text messages instead of phishing emails as a type of holiday cyber scam is widely used today. Scammers introduce themselves as representatives of legitimate organizations and use powerful calls to action that require an immediate and urgent response, such as disclosing personal information like account details, credit card numbers, or usernames and passwords.
Holiday DDoS Attacks
To create chaos for holiday shoppers, "A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic," Cloudflare says.
How To Identify Holiday Cyber Scams?
As scammers often take advantage of holiday shoppers, here are some signs from the University of the Fraser Valley to help identify scams and stay cyber-safe while securing holiday deals:
- Unprofessional website design, including blurry images, typos, established dates, and sites missing return or privacy policies.
- Competitive low prices that may indicate counterfeit products or services.
- Websites missing key company information, such as a return policy, a privacy policy, and contact information.
- Websites requiring detailed information, such as a SIN number, your mother’s maiden name, or other sensitive information unnecessary for a typical purchase.
- Delivery notice scams claiming to be from Canada Post, UPS, FedEx, or other shipping services.
Holiday Cyber Safety Tips
- Buy from stores and brands that are familiar, especially when purchasing electronics.
- Update passwords regularly and use multifactor authentication.
- Stay informed about recent scam tactics.
- Check reviews before making a purchase.
- Avoid clicking unfamiliar links.
- Refrain from sharing personal information.
- Use reliable online security software.
What Should You Do if You Were Scammed?
- Cut contact with the scammer immediately without attempting to recover the money.
- Contact your bank to determine if they can help recover the lost money and freeze your credit.
- Update your passwords immediately.
- Report the scam to the relevant authorities.
Holiday cyber scams may seem common, but with awareness, education, and the best practices you’ve learned, you can discourage their attempts. Stay informed, be vigilant, and enjoy a safe holiday season.
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