The holiday season is almost upon us… again! As we approach this year’s holiday season, we wanted to send out a reminder regarding how important it is to be aware and educated about current scams. Every year, scammers take advantage of innocent internet users who are trying to do some online holiday shopping or planning. Of course, it almost goes without saying that it is always important to be cautious, but it is even important around big holidays, in particular those that generate a lot of shopping. Here are some things to keep in mind as you navigate the internet and your email inbox throughout the next several months:
Websites
There is an insurmountable amount of fake and fraudulent websites that exist. Many pose as online shopping outlets, stealing your money and credit card information without ever actually sending the products that you ordered. When you find an item you are searching for at a website you’re not familiar with that’s offering it at a significant savings, be suspicious. Do some searches for reviews on that website in general. You may find that it has been set up only to charge your card, never provide a product and then sell or use your card info.
Some sites are completely fake like those and sometimes they pose as legitimate websites in order to abuse your trust. For example, a hacker might make a fraudulent website that looks similar to a large retailer’s website. Then, an online shopper might accidentally navigate to the fraudulent website instead of the actual website and unknowingly provide their credit card information to the scammers while trying to make a purchase.
Sometimes these fraudulent websites are easy to spot, but sometimes it is extremely tricky to tell the difference between the real site and the fake site. The best indicator of a fraudulent site is the URL. For example, Walmart’s real URL is walmart.com, and since URLs cannot be directly copied, a scammer might make a fraudulent website with the URL shopwalmart.com or walmartus.com.
Text Messages
You have probably received many scam text messages throughout your life; these text messages only get worse throughout the holiday season. One common example is fake package tracking messages. Since many people shop online during the holidays, the likelihood of a scammer sending a fake package tracking message when someone actually has a package on the way is higher, so the scam is more likely to succeed. To carry out this scam, a scammer will send a text message with a fake tracking number or link to a fake tracking website. Once the victim clicks the link and/or puts in their information, the scam has succeeded. Usually, legitimate brands will not send a message requesting information with tracking information. If you receive any message that is not verified, do not click any links or send back any information.
Calls
There are several types of scam calls that you can receive. Delivery/package tracking scams can also occur over the phone, as well as fake charities, gift card offerings, and much more. For all of these scams, a scammer will call someone posing as someone else. For example, they may pretend that they are a representative of a certain charity and ask for a donation. They may ask for various information like credit card information or social security numbers in order to complete the donation, and if the victim provides it, the scam is complete. Recent AI technology can even help hackers change the sound of their voices to sound like trusted people, and they can alter the phone number displayed on your caller ID to appear as through it is a local number, or from whatever part of the country is needed, to ‘sell’ the scam, so these scams can be very scary and hard to pick out. Never provide information over the phone unless you have verified the caller or initialed the call yourself.
Emails
Phishing emails, although popular throughout the rest of the year, are particularly popular throughout the holiday season. Usually, a scammer will pose as a legitimate brand and send you an email asking for your information. These emails can include fake shipping emails, order receipts, package tracking information, booking confirmations, login pages, sale notifications, charity requests, and much more. The goal of all of these scams is to get you to input your sensitive information, whether it be in a reply to an email, a web-form, a fake website, and so on.
You may receive an email with an offer for a ‘hot, hard-to-get-your-hands-on’ gift for this season and the link will direct you right to one of those fake websites mentioned in the first section above! Go to the website directly, if you’re familiar with the retailer, and if not, check out the reviews of any sites you don’t have knowledge of.
Sometimes scammers can put malware in the links in their emails as well, meaning that as soon as the link is clicked, malware is downloaded onto your device. Never click any links in emails or reply with any of your information without first verifying the sender. The best way to verify a sender is to check their email address. Just like website URLs, scammers will usually try to make email addresses that look legit, but are not quite right. For example, if the real email address for target is customerservice@target.com, a scammer might use customerservice@shoptarget.com to email you.
Ads
During the holidays, the internet is riddled with fraudulent advertisements. One example is fake google ads. Scammers have recently figured out a way to create fake ads that show up when you search on Google. After a Google search, the first several “search results” are usually sponsored advertisements. Scammers have now started creating fake ads that appear to be from legitimate companies. They can even get the ad to display the company’s real URL. But, once the ad is clicked and you are brought to the fraudulent website, you will be able to see the fake URL in the address bar. If you aren’t looking close enough, though, these fake ads and fake websites can be very tricky to spot. It is best practice to skip the ad results when searching on Google and instead click on the real results underneath. Or, again, navigate directly to the retailer claiming to offer the sale and search for it there instead of using the link.
In general, it is important to be on the lookout for scams when using the internet. Never click on links or respond to emails that you have not verified. Additionally, try to determine whether or not the website you are visiting is legitimate before putting in your information or making purchases. If you find a website with too-good-to-be-true prices or sales, it is probably fake. Any unsolicited contact from anywhere, especially if it asks you to provide personal information, should be investigated. It’s time to be on guard and extra vigilant. You can always ask your IT provider to investigate if you have doubts.
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