Advertisements for e-cards, florists, jewelry stores, and other gift items should be considered suspicious and should be checked for possible scams from unknown sources that aim to steal credit card information
Every year, around Valentine's Day, online scams appear that threaten users. Cybercriminals take advantage of the mood of the day to spread malware through love-themed links on social media, and the internet is flooded with fake gift cards and fake greeting cards. In this context, ESET highlights the need for users to be especially careful during this period, and provides useful tips for their security.
Advertisements received for e-cards, flower shops, jewelry stores, and other gift items should be considered suspicious and should be checked for potential scams from unknown sources that aim to exploit users' need to send a gift of love and steal their credit card information. Particular attention should be paid to email scams that appear to have been sent by the other half and direct the user to supposed greeting cards, songs, videos, or photos with the aim of executing malicious code or stealing information.
Cybercriminals often use compromised user accounts to reach unsuspecting victims via social media. Stephen Cobb, Security Evangelist at ESET, explains how such a scam works: “Initially, a person meets someone on a dating site. After exchanging a few emails, it seems that the two people have gotten to know each other so well that the victim really feels that there is chemistry between them. Suddenly, the other person pretends to need money for an emergency surgery at a time when he is out of town for work. He therefore asks the victim to transfer a sum of money to his account.” The paradox is that these attacks have many successes, as the criminal has targeted victims who have experience with transferring funds to bank accounts and have money in their account.
Despite these threats, ESET appears reassuring about how users can protect themselves, as despite the high risk they have especially as the holiday approaches, the protection measures are very simple: email filtering, carefully configured personal firewall and of course, a good dose of common sense. Also, the user should trust well-known and legitimate online dating services and prefer to get to know the other person in person before proceeding with actions such as lending money, in order to verify that this is a real person, who is who he claims to be. So if the user asks to meet the other person in person and this person does not appear online again, then a love may have disappeared, but the money and the user's identity will not have disappeared.
Source: protothema.gr
