Christmas is the Season for Spam and Online Scams!
Christmas is in spitting distance and users are going crazy with online gift shopping and last minute flight bookings to be with family on the special day. With the Christmas craze that is going around, greedy cyber-criminals cannot pass up the opportunity to make some money off of a number of gullible season spenders.
Computer security firms such as Symantec have already detected numerous Christmas-related spam messages circulating the web; this includes greeting cards, gift shopping offers, courier services and much more. Attractive or even outrageous subject headers are what cyber-criminals are using to get unsuspecting users to at least click on their maliciously crafted e-mails. Most infected e-mails just require a user to click on an attachment or link in order to automatically execute malware such as keylogging or password-stealing Trojans. These types of Trojans can steal a victim’s banking details and send them to a remote attacker, who will happily spend as much cash as he/she can access in that account.
However, other malicious Christmas e-mails actually provide links to fake websites (e:g airline or online pharmacy websites) where users are tricked into to willingly pay for products or services that don’t even exist. Sadly, most users only realize that it is all a scam after the transaction has been made. To help you avoid getting scammed, below is a list of season-themed subject headers, starting with the obvious and ending with the ridiculous:
- Merry Christmas!
- Impress your friends this holiday season
- Bling yourself up this Christmas
- Delight a child with a personalised letter from Santa
- Photo Christmas Cards – Fast Shipping
- Give her luxury this holiday season
- Personalised Christmas Gifts for Everyone on your list
- Sales receipt from Amazon
- Sales Order from walmart.com
- Surprise your child with a gift delivered straight from the North Pole
As cool as it sounds to surprise your child with a gift from the North Pole, it’s highly unlikely that the gift is coming from Santa himself. So no matter how curious you are, don’t click on that e-mail! In addition, to avoiding suspicious spam e-mail – as in do not even click on it, report it to he Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and then delete it! – it would be good idea to get your e-mail protected with reliable and continuously updated security software. Otherwise, have an awesome Christmas and make sure you spend it with your loved ones.
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