By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
For the Los Alamos Daily Post

Oh boy it’s almost the most wonderful time of the year for consumerism- Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals! But be careful, some of these deals are straight up scams.

According to a report from Bitdefender 77% of Black Friday spam emails have been identified as scams, with the remainder being marketing lures. That’s up by 7% from 2023. These scams are intended to steal victims’ personal info, such as login credentials and banking information, or directly steal their money with fake purchases or banking trojans.

Be cautious of any unsolicited emails you get, these attacks frequently are phishing emails impersonating well known brands. In one case in Spain, emails impersonating Fnac, a French company, specializing in entertainment media and consumer electronics. These phishing emails claimed that users’ orders were ready to be shipped, with a PDF attachment carrying the Grandoreiro Trojan, a banking trojan, designed to steal banking credentials.

In another example, an email offered Ray-Bans for $27.99, and directed users to a phony site, and other phishing emails have been noted to use survey lures with promised prizes as a way to redirect users to phishing sites.

How to avoid these inbox scams?

• Verify your sources, always double-check email sender addresses and website URLs for legitimacy. It is very easy to spoof an email address or website URL to make it look legitimate.
• Avoid clicking links in emails, visit retailer websites directly instead of clicking unsolicited links in emails, texts or social media.
• Make sure that you are using an antivirus or other security solution. Some email services have built in security to help verify suspicious links and emails and keep them out of your inbox. I find that Gmail is pretty awesome at weeding out the worst of the junk emails.
• Be cautious with unsolicited surveys offering rewards or deals with skepticism unless verified as legitimate by going directly to the company’s website.

Courtesy image

Be careful out there, bargains await, but so do scams! Watch out for unsolicited emails offering deals in your inbox, or sketchy deals on social media or via text. Stay safe online, if something seems too good to be true … it probably is.

Editor’s note: Rebecca Rutherford works in information technology at Los Alamos National Laboratory.