News JVTech 5 tips to avoid scams during your Christmas shopping
Published on 28/11/2022 at 06:40
The end-of-year celebrations are fast approaching and many of us will be ordering Christmas gifts from various online stores such as Amazon, Cdiscount or even Fnac. But yet, Google warns users, because it is also the favorite season for scammers…
Summary
Christmas is a hacker’s favorite holiday5 tips to avoid scams when ordering online
Christmas is the favorite holiday of hackers
Hackers operate in the shadows at all times of the year, but what he is looking for above all is the way to make as much money as possible in a very short period of time.
Indeed, they must be careful not to be spotted and for that, they have often very precise schedules of actions.
The holiday season is the perfect time for them, since many users will be ordering all their gifts online. And what better than a good old misleading email to deceive an uninformed user?
For once, Google is our friend since the firm gives some tips to avoid being scammed during the Christmas period.
5 tips to avoid scams when ordering online
Gift cards
In general, when we don’t have too many ideas to offer a gift to a friend, or a member of our family who is a little distant, we opt for the sacrosanct gift card. We don’t get too wet so as not to offend the recipient, and that makes everyone happy.
Unfortunately, the holiday season also brings its share of surprises. You may therefore receive emails offering you gift cards for different shops. Obviously, these cards are fake, never existed and are just used to make you fill out a form with your personal data, and your bank details for the purchase.
Gift cards are only available on official stores (Amazon, Cdiscount, Fnac, etc.), and directly in store. No third-party organization can sell you gift cards, even if they offer more advantageous prices than official services.
Charitable donations
In the same vein, we can also come across emails using the holiday season to encourage you to donate money to charities. The hackers pretend to be well-known associations such as La Croix Rouge, Les Restos du Cœur or UNICEF.
Surprise ! These emails are mostly fake and you have to check the email address of the one who sent it to you and check it on the internet. Even if you would like to give to an association, do not hesitate to go directly to their official sites, you can never be too careful.
Targeted content
Well done Mary! You have won a €50 gift certificate for the holidays! Well no… Many structures resell our personal information, and this information can sometimes be lost in nature.
Computer hackers therefore use these huge databases with thousands of email addresses to generate strikingly realistic texts, sometimes evoking very personal information. Your first name, your age, even your professional situation, hackers do not hesitate to use very good arguments to encourage you to checkout.
If in doubt, check the sender’s email address and search there on the internet to see if other users have also been tricked.
Subscription renewal
The end of the year is also the time to renew many subscriptions. We are used to paying for content monthly, be it Netflix, Amazon Prime, Playstation Plus and of course some insurance. And this, the pirates know it well.
You will surely receive subscription renewal emails which will of course urge you to submit your personal and banking information. If an email tells you that you only have a few days left, it’s totally bogus.
In general, the communication teams of the different structures send emails well before the deadline of your contracts. If an email forces you to do so very quickly under penalty of an outright cancellation of your subscription: it’s fake!
In addition, if you had already given your personal information to a structure, they already have it…
A secret trick
The good old ransom technique! Again, hackers may have access to some personal information, and they don’t hesitate to use it against you.
By pretending to be a hacker who has access to all your data and even your computer, some hackers force you to pay them cryptocurrency in exchange for your freedom. Obviously, they only have access to a handful of information about you, but they are far from having access to your computer, otherwise you might have noticed it (slow computer, files being added and/or deleted, etc. )
You must therefore always be careful not to fall into the trap, even if it seems ultra realistic.
Always take your time before responding to an email and check the sender of a suspicious email. Never email anyone personal or banking information, especially around Christmas time.
