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Loading...At a time when the American society is revelling in the joy of Thanksgiving Day, there are not-so-thankful elements in the deep web who are trying to spoil the fun.
Owing to the gift-giving tradition of the Thanksgiving festival supported by the growing trend of online shopping, fraudsters are known to fool unsuspecting victims into sharing their valuable personal data to the gamut of online scams spread on the internet. The buying spree, coupled with the hyper-commercialization of flash sale campaigns like Black Friday and Cyber Monday that arrive on the heels of Thanksgiving, has only led people to become more prone to shrewd online scams that are in full swing during the holiday season.
While both of these days have earned international recognition in breaking sales record and generating unprecedented online traffic, beneath their underbelly lies the ugly truth of rampant cybercrime that cashes on customers’ generous buying attitude during this time.
Take a look at these unfortunate statistics about cybercrime during holidays as compiled by ZeroFOX, a social media cyber security agency based out of Maryland.
– 64 percent of online businesses report a spike in cybercrime on Cyber Monday.
– As Thanksgiving inches closer, phishing attempts rise by as much as 336 percent.
– Everyday, over 30 million malicious posts are added to social media platforms.
Based on these statistics alone, you can imagine the kind of damage gimmicky online scams cause to the consumer market. Sophisticated scammers weave their traps by designing visually appealing websites that replicate big brand websites, and users are easily lured into clicking anything that looks like a discount coupon or a hasty sale. What’s worse is that users’ give out their credit card information on these platforms with little to no thought making the criminals’ ploy effortlessly easy.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suggests consumers to avoid falling for the following scams:
– Don’t buy new products and gift cards being advertised for an unbelievably dirt cheap price.
– Don’t click on websites and links that have countdown flash sales for items of high demands, such as electronic gadgets.
– Don’t share your credit card information or other personal details to telemarketers, emails, and text messages claiming to be from a recognized businesses.
Additionally, you should also update all applications in your PC to stay abreast of any threats. If you don’t have a security software in place, we suggest you download the Comodo Internet Security (CIS) suite for a robust protection against online attacks. The Comodo Internet Security is a powerfully-built security console that features an in-built firewall, antivirus, and anti-malware capability and safeguards your online sessions any hazards.
The list of online scam techniques is long, and you should practice skepticism and common sense as a broader set of guidelines to prevent yourself from being a victim. The golden rule is to realize that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is!
Comodo wishes you a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
