We are heading towards the Christmas of this year, you might be very excited and happy for your holiday, Christmas celebration and of-course your shopping. The advent of modern Internet has changed the way of shopping and many of us will use computers, smart phones, tablets and other gadgets for online shopping. Users like us are preparing themselves for shopping but we should not forget that cyber criminals are also preparing their tools and techniques to use scams.
McAfee has spotlights the “12 Scams of Christmas” to keep consumers digital lives safe, and in this article we will discuss some of them (which are very important and you may face them).
Fake gift cards
Social media specially twitter and facebook are likely the best platform for these scammers to steal money from consumers, and gift card (fake or bogus) are the easiest way to target innocent people. Safe yourself from the deceptive advertisement that ask your personal information.
SMS Scam “Smishing”
Smishing is the phishing technique that done through a text message, here I am not mentioning sms because now a days scammers are using android / iOS apps to target consumer. You might get a text message from your bank or even an consumer website, the SMS might not be originated from the pretended source. So always confirm before going to share your information and do not open any URL
Deceptive Online Games
“Before your kids are glued to their newly downloaded games, be wary of the games’ sources. Many sites offering full-version downloads of Grand Theft Auto, for example, are often laden with malware, and integrated social media pages can expose gamers, too. “ Says McAfee
Fake Charity
Donation is the common practice of Christmas and most of us are planning to donate some amount of money to the needy one, but do not trust the fake charities on the basis of their claims. They might create fake charity websites and ask your donation, email marketing, social media marketing and even google advertisement may be use to grab your attention and to play with human psyche.
Fake Application
Do not install the fake applications that look like the famous online shopping portals, they might be malicious.
So above are the top 5 scams the everyone of us might face. McAfee has created their list if top 12 scams. The number of scams is not the matter at all because scammers always use different techniques that used to be the mixture of various tricks, you need to aware regarding the situation that is going on. Do not download any application from third party website, do not check promotional emails that you received from an unknown source and same goes with SMS.
Financial sector never ask personal information through SMS or even email, so do not share your information.
Also, if you find any malicious activity or scam then do share it with us. So that we can investigate and publish the right thing for the protection of other users.
Happy shopping and enjoy your holiday.
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