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.
this article we will discuss some of them (which are very important
and you may face them).
Fake gift cards
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”
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.
