You may have heard of the 12 Days of Christmas, but what you
probably haven't heard of are the Endless Scams of Christmas. In their efforts
to "liven up" the holidays, cybercriminals this year are going to act
like the Grinch in their efforts to ruin your holiday spirits. So in this
season of giving I though it only appropriate to give all of our loyal readers
the lowdown on the top 12 cyberscams that you can expect to see this upcoming yule.
On the First Day of Christmas my true love said to me, you
won’t believe what I found under the tree.
Santa has nothing to do with the multitude of offers , you
will find online this shopping season that are too good to be true. A recent blog on Democrat and Chronicle
quoted attorney Eric Schneiderman as saying,
“As the holiday shopping
season kicks off and more consumers plan to shop online, there are simple steps
you can take to avoid scams and protect your personal data. Consumers should
know how to spot fake websites and deals that are too good to be true.” Schneiderman warned that when shopping
online, consumers should only use secure Internet connections and only process
online payments on web pages that are HTTPS verified to protect themselves
against fraudulent companies.” http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/blogs/vote-up/2014/12/01/shopping-on-cyber-monday-heres-some-tips/19732935/
This is good advice. But
the first warning sign of an impending cybercon should be prices for
merchandise way below retail or wholesale levels. You also need to make doubly sure that the
website you thought you were clicking onto is indeed the one you arrived at. Cyber criminals are amazingly good at
creating knockoff websites that look just like the real deal. The only difference would be a subtle
spelling difference in the URL. So be
warned and be safe.
On the Second
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, look what I won honey!
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“Consumers should be suspicious of any email,
messages, or posts on social networks promoting giveaways or contests that seem
too good to be true, e.g., free high-value gift cards, tablets, and
smartphones. These “contests” are often scams designed to bilk consumers out of
money and/or to collect consumers’ personal information for resale. Genuine
sweepstakes and contests are commonplace on the Internet; however, you should
avoid any contest or promotion that requires you to pay money or to perform any
sort of financial transaction. Also, think twice before participating in
promotions that require entrants to register with multiple third-party
websites; often these are ploys to build marketing lists. Promotions that
require users to provide more than simple contact information may even be phony
or run by scammers who resell consumer information to collect referral fees!”
On the Third
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s help this charity!
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“It’s so easy to click on a link in your email, break out
your wallet for a sympathetic caller or open a site from Facebook — but resist
the impulse. When you decide to donate, go directly to the website of the
organization to whom you want to give your money, rather than taking a
shortcut. Not only could your dollars never reach their destination, you could
end up downloading malware or leaving yourself open to identity theft.”
On the Fourth
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, look what a little birdie told me.
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On the Fifth
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, check out my new USB.
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On the Sixth
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s grab some coffee.
Speaking of coffee, you also need to be very wary of using
public Wi -Fi these days. As
of late
everything from coffee shops to airport terminals and hotel public Wi -Fi
systems have been targeted by hackers in order to gain access to unsuspecting
victims. There was even a report of a
number of hotels in Japan that were infected with an insidious malware
subroutine that were designed to target specific high-value executives in order
to aid and abet corporate espionage.
Personally, I never connect to public Wi -Fi. I use my cellphone to launch a Wi -Fi
hotspot. If you do insist on using
public Wi -Fi then you should have at least three layers of anti-virus and
anti-malware to protect you from unwanted intrusion. Because your real wake up call might not be
that double mocha latte after all.
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On the Seventh
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s get some money.
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On the Eighth
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, I got a call from somebody.
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On the Ninth
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, our package is in jeopardy.
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Along
with bogus product come-ons are travel deals that offer to Save You Big $$ on
last-minute trips. While there are a
number of legitimate travel purveyors that specialize in last-minute trips,
they will not solicit you via spam email.
You are required to opt-in and register with them. The last thing you want to do is schedule a
trip that takes you nowhere but to the cleaners. Travelers Beware.
On the Eleventh
Day of Christmas my true love said to me, look at the card we got from Sonny.
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The Holidays can bring many gifts to you and yours, but
remember to check your stocking twice and keep your anti-virus and malware
software up to date, ready to block as many unwanted presents as possible.
In this article I have provided my own list of the 12 Scams
of Christmas. Although my list is far from comprehensive, it does contain this year’s
top holiday scams . You can find more than a dozen articles about scams and
fraud on our blog site by entering “scams” or “security” in the search box, at
the top of this blog. I also recommend reading the “Byte
before Christmas” and the “Hack
Attack is Back”, just to name a few.
If you found this article useful, share it with your friends, families and co-works. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment sections below. If you would like a free copy of our book, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century", fill out the form below.
Thanks for sharing your time with me.
When Carl isn’t singing Christmas carols, he can be heard every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on Blog Talk Radio with his weekly "Working the Web to Win" radio show.
If you found this article useful, share it with your friends, families and co-works. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment sections below. If you would like a free copy of our book, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century", fill out the form below.
Thanks for sharing your time with me.
When Carl isn’t singing Christmas carols, he can be heard every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on Blog Talk Radio with his weekly "Working the Web to Win" radio show.
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