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This article is from Trend Micro.
Christmas is the season for shopping and gift cards! Unfortunately, scammers are always looking for ways to exploit you. Check out the hot scams of the week and see how many of them you’ve spotted!
“Merry Christmas Sale! Gifts With Personality!” Recently we’ve spotted around 800 fake promotional emails per day featuring Louis Vuitton Christmas sales:
The email leads you to a fake Louis Vuitton website (bagfulls[.]com), and by clicking on different images you will even be led to different product pages.
Please always take a close look at the web address. The official Louis Vuitton web address is us[.]louisvuitton[.]com
The legitimate Louis Vuitton page.
Scammers also use SMS to spread links to scam websites, pretending there are promotional campaigns:
Legitimate website: kay[.]com
Fake website: wowkablackfridaydeals[.]com
For more tips on spotting fake online shops, please check out this article.
Impersonating famous brands, scammers send text messages with phishing links, falsely claiming they are hosting raffle campaigns celebrating anniversaries, or giving away gifts randomly. They tell people that they’ve won prizes (iPhones, iPads, or other expensive products) and instruct them to claim the gifts via the attached links:
Circulating for weeks, iPhone 13 survey scams keep occupying the top scams of the week, but lately we’ve detected 4 times the number of them:
Falsely claiming that you can win an iPhone 13, scammers try to lure you into clicking on the phishing links attached in the spam messages. The links lead to fake online survey pages that say before you can receive your gift you need to fill out the survey.
After you’ve completed the survey, you need to enter a delivery address and credit card details to claim the gift – scammers can record the credentials and use them to steal your money!
Scammers pretend to be from cloud services company M247 Europe SRL and send you fake raffle messages, instructing you to claim a free iPad Pro:
We have received your payment for this month, Barbara. Thank you for always paying your bills on time. Allow us to reward you for your support and trust in our brand. Claim your iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard when you answer our anonymous survey here: <URL>
Again, after that, you will have to enter credit card information (that will go straight into the scammers’ hands)!
Posing as Home Depot, scammers have been sending people text messages saying they’ve won their lottery campaign. Victims need to click on embedded links to claim their “rewards”:
/-/HOME DEPOT We have a WINNER” CID#32875–_<URL> Send 0 to STOP
If you click on them and follow the prompts, you will eventually end up inadvertently exposing your personal information. As we’ve mentioned several times, scammers can record any credentials you enter on the pages you visit through their links and use them to commit identity theft!
Besides text messages, scammers also use emails to spread fake survey campaigns. They guarantee you gift cards or rewards, luring you to click on phishing links that lead to fake online survey pages where you could end up exposing your sensitive credentials.
“Shopper, You can qualify to get a $50 Pfizer COVID Vaccine Survey gift card!”
“30 Seconds Will Reward You With $100 in Exclusive Sams Club Rewards”
“BONUS: $100 ACE HARDWARE Gift Card Opportunity”
“Congratulations! You can get a $100 FedEx gift card!”
“Shopper, You can qualify to get a $50 Starbucks gift card!”
Trend Micro Check is an all-in-one browser extension for detecting scams, phishing attacks, malware, and dangerous links – and it’s FREE!
After you’ve pinned Trend Micro Check, it will block dangerous sites automatically! It is now available on Safari, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.
Check out this article for more information about Trend Micro Check.
Don’t forget to add an extra layer of protection to your device with Trend Micro Maximum Security! It includes Web Threat Protection, Ransomware Protection, Anti-phishing, and Anti-spam Protection to help you combat scams and cyberattacks. Click the button below to give it a try:
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