This is, without a doubt, the season of shopping scams. Between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, consumers who shop online must stay on their toes.
This week’s ConsumerAffairs-Trend Micro Threat Alert identified an increase in scams targeting Thanksgiving shoppers as well as those getting an early start on Black Friday shopping. Between Oct 1 to Nov 17, 2023, the Trend Micro research team found 110,527 Black Friday shopping-related scam URLs in the US, which increased by 66.2% compared to the previous 10 days (Oct – Nov 9). The year-over-year increase is 12.73%.
The research team detected a phishing email impersonating Rolex to lure victims to buy boutique watches with Black Friday sale prices. The team detected 424,346 URLs between Nov 10-13.
Between Nov 1 to Nov 17, 2023, the Trend Micro research team found 100,890 Thanksgiving shopping-related scam URLs in the US, which increased by 12.73% compared to last year. The top five states being targeted the most in 2023 in order are Virginia, California, Oregon, Montana and North Carolina.
Jon Clay, vice president of Threat Intelligence at Trend Micro, says it seems to be an annual event – the holidays bring out the scammers.
“The best deals, counterfeit products posing as the real thing, or using rewards to get almost free products are just a few examples of scams that we’re seeing this year,” Clay told us. “Stay vigilant and do some basic investigation to ascertain if that deal is real or not. If you mostly shop directly on the brand websites and look for their deals there, you’ll be less likely to be scammed.”
Unfortunately, the list of scams showing up on our radar screens is growing. Here are a few more that pose a threat to consumers.
Travel scams
Between Nov 1 to Nov 17, 2023, the Trend Micro research team detected 655 travel scams in the US, which increased by 133.09% compared to last year. These scams included fake Airbnb and Booking.com log-in portal pages that try to get the credential information from victims.
The top five states being targeted the most in 2023 in order are Washington, Virginia, New Jersey, California and Oregon.
Walmart scams
Bad actors pretend to be Walmart to invite users to buy a Samsung 8K QLED TV with their Walmart+ Rewards to get the TV almost free of charge. This way, scammers try to steal victims’ personal and credit card info.
The top five states being targeted the most in 2023 in order are Texas, Ohio, Florida, Missouri and California.
iCloud survey scams
Scammers impersonated Apple to warn users that their cloud storage is full. Scammers push victims to upgrade their subscription plans and fill out a survey to steal their info.
The top five states being targeted the most in 2023 in order are California, Texas, Indiana, Illinois and North Carolina.
Spotify scams
Scammers impersonated Spotify to inform users of a renewal problem with their membership and asked victims to log in to a fake Spotify page to provide their personal information. The Trend Micro research team detected 533 logs on Nov 13.
HR department phishing
Bad actors pretend to be HR departments and send phishing emails to tell the email receivers to check the staff employment termination list. If the victim clicks the hyperlink in the email body, scammers will redirect them to a fake email login page to steal their account info. The Trend Micro research team found 372 logs on Nov 11.
If you are a victim of a scam this holiday season, by all means, report it. But to whom? Fortunately, the U.S. government now has a single portal that can get your story to the proper federal authorities.