You better watch out! 3 holiday scams to be aware of

You better watch out! 3 holiday scams to be aware of Features (Image credit: Getty Images) Sam Dawson published 'Tis the season (to be cyber-savvy)! While we’re looking forward to spending quality time with the family and tucking into some good food this Christmas, cybercriminals aren’t taking the holidays off. For them, it’s a massive opportunity to take advantage of the surge in online shopping activity during those last-minute rushes to get the perfect gift. According to McAfee's 2024 Global Holiday Shopping Scams Study , Black Friday-themed emails alone saw a 495% increase from October to early November. Christmas-related emails rose by 314% during that same period. In fact, 3 in 5 Americans are on high alert this year for holiday scams due to the surge in AI-powered attacks, and 78% believe cybercriminal activity intensifies during the festive season. So, we're going to help you pinpoint the top scams criminals are running during this holiday season, and how you can keep yourself, and the family, cyber-secure. NordVPN - The best VPN overall ( $3.39 $2.99 per month) NordVPN Basic is available for $2.99 per month for two years, plus three months free. It’s consistently topped our overall VPN rankings as the best VPN available right now, thanks to: 🌎 Lightning-fast speeds in over 110+ countries 🍿 Reliable access to geo-blocked services wherever you are in the world 💻 Support for up to 10 simultaneous connections All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. 1. Festive phishing scams Scammers are constantly thinking ahead and trying to leverage current news or events. At Christmas, that means impersonating services you’re likely to come into contact with through email and texts. Think notifications about flash sales, limited-time deals, and delivery updates for packages you’re eagerly awaiting. These messages are designed to look as legitimate as possible so that you won’t suspect you’re actually clicking a malicious link. Once you’ve opened the link, you’ll usually be prompted to provide personal or financial information to learn more, which is then sent to bad actors. As well as using offers to entice unsuspecting shoppers, criminals using phishing scams rely on fear to prompt you into immediate action. This often takes the form of fake security alerts warning you about unauthorized access to one of your accounts. However, during the Christmas season, it’s common to see messages claiming there’s an issue with your delivery or payment for a gift that demands urgent attention. Then there’s the AI problem. Convincing scam messages can now be generated extremely quickly using AI models, meaning that it’s easier than ever for scammers to scale up massive campaigns for email and text fraud that look indistinguishable from the real thing. Research from Norton suggests that enticing scam messages work. 47% of their respondents said that they’re willing to share personal information if it means they will receive a discount while shopping. Always verify the sender of any suspicious texts or deals that seem too good to be true. If you’re even a little...

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