If you haven’t found something cool for your mother yet for this Mother’s day, it’s not too late. Brands from across the globe are busy sending out marketing emails with coupons, deals, e-cards, and the whole lot using which you can buy something, get it gift wrapped and shipped to her directly.
But, be wary of cyber criminals as they would also be busy sending out phishing emails to carry out email scams, malware infected attachments to entrap gullible users with fake offers for Mother’s day. Here are a few security tips to help you stay away from those email scams.
Emails from Strangers
On and off you receive emails that get categorized as spam automatically but, there are cases when a couple of emails from strangers do make to your inbox. This is because cyber criminals are busy scouring the web and busy recruiting new bots, whose IPs haven’t been blacklisted yet, to send out spam using previously identified personal details. As soon as you open up such email that seems to be valid because it is addressing you by name and click on a link to a product that you believe would bring a huge smile on your mom’s face nothing would show up on the screen except your computer downloading a malware background.
Coupons, Coupons, More Coupons
There is nothing wrong in hunting for deals on the web or using coupons to buy gifts but, if you do want to buy your mom something without surprises we recommend you be wary of email coupons with deals that you haven’t subscribed too and seem too good to be true. Perform a simple search on the web before you do click on those links advertising the coupons. We recommend you only click on those links sent by companies that you have subscribed to – this way you can prevent your system from getting affected while also avoiding the spread of malware.
E-cards for Moms
Mothers would be checking for e-cards on Mother’s Day so do let your mom know to proceed with caution when it comes to well-wishes from strangers. This is because cyber criminals have started using this common method of sending out e-wishes to attack your computer. We recommend that you advise her to delete the email straight away if the sender or the sender’s email address is not known to her.
Gag Gifts Phishing Scam
Gag gifts are an all-time favorite in any season and any occasion and web scammers make it a point to send out phishing emails meant to fool users into giving out personal and financial information. There are also cases where well designed fake websites crop up overnight with email scam campaign that uses spam assisted marketing to flood users’ inbox across the globe. From the looks of it the sites would be presented well with alleged organizational backing but, when the users finally go to the checkout page, all they would be doing would be giving out personal and financial information without actually ever receiving the product. Your personal information will be misused and money will be stolen following this particular fake transaction. Our recommendation is to simply laugh-off these Gag gift offers and ignore them.
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