Don’t Give Spammers a Reason to Be Thankful
Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season in the United States, the top spam-sending country in the world. The holiday season ushers sales and big discounts for users. Unfortunately, however, this also means that spammers will be rushing to offer consumers bogus promos and discounts. Seems even cybercriminals have something to be thankful for, too.
Trend Micro analysts received Thanksgiving-related spam samples. The spammed messages offered users who log in to their sites US$500 worth of “grocery vouchers.” The sites were hosted on different domains that, upon further analysis, have already been blacklisted though they have only recently been created.
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Users who are tricked into clicking any of the URLs in the spammed messages landed on sites where they are asked to give out personal information like email addresses, complete names, addresses, and phone numbers, which, as you may already know, may be used for other malicious activities later on or sold in underground forums.
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Though it is true that legitimate companies do promote discounts and other special offers online, not everyone who sends promotional offers has good intentions. In fact, most of them don’t. Going into business is, after all, all about one thing alone—making money. Bear in mind that legitimate online offers only send out information on promotions and special offers to those who subscribe to them.
Users are strongly advised to be wary of online offers. Here are some useful dos and don’ts that will help you stay safe from spammers and scammers on the Web:
- Do not open emails that come from senders you do not personally know.
- Do not click links embedded in emails. To check if these are legitimate, you may use free tools such as Trend Micro’s Online URL Query.
- Do not rashly give out your personal credentials online. You may end up just being another phishing victim.
- Do keep in mind that legitimate offers are only sent to subscribers.
- Do remember, too, that cybercriminals will do anything for money so stay safe online by using a security suite that stops threats before they even reach you.
Don’t let spammers and scammers spoil the holidays though. There are ways to stay safe online. For more useful tips and tricks, please visit:
Post from: TrendLabs | Malware Blog - by Trend Micro
Don’t Give Spammers a Reason to Be Thankful
