A study by cybersecurity company Kaspersky has revealed that over the past year, scammers have been taking advantage of the disruption in deliveries by convincing users to open phishing links.
Cybercriminals have become more adept at localizing their spam mailings in the past quarter. Users experienced a surge in invoices in asking for money for so-called customs duties to shipment costs. With these mailings, victims are often taken to a fake website, where they are asked not only to share money, but also state their bank card details.
Cybercriminals also launched websites that appeared to offer people the chance to buy parcels that could not reach the intended recipients. Such websites were set up like a lottery. Users were not aware of the contents of the package. They bid based on the weight of the package. And if they “win,” the item will never arrive, even after paying the winning bid.
Another new trick from fraudsters this past quarter involved various types of spam sent to WhatsApp. One asked users to take a survey about WhatsApp and send messages to several contacts to receive a prize. Another states that the users already won a large prize—all they needed to do to collect it is pay a small fee.
An additional scam took advantage of the debate surrounding WhatsApp’s new privacy policy that allowed it to exchange information with Facebook. Cybercriminals set up fake websites inviting users to a WhatsApp chat with “beautiful strangers.” However, upon clicking the link to the chat room, the potential victim landed on a fake Facebook login page—and risks giving up their personal information. Users also received links for fake WhatsApp messenger apps, putting them at risk of downloading malware.
To avoid falling victim to these scams, Kaspersky experts recommend the following:
- Check any links before clicking. Hover over it to preview the URL, and look for misspelling, unusual syntax, or any other irregularities.
- Even if a message or a letter came from one of your best friends, remember that their accounts could also have been hacked. Remain cautious in any situation. Even if a message seems friendly, treat links and attachments with attention.
- It’s better not to follow links from emails at all. Instead, you can open a new tab or window and enter the URL of your bank or other destination manually.
- Install a trusted security solution and follow its recommendations. Then secure solutions will solve the majority of problems automatically and alert you if necessary.
- It’s safe practice to check the sender’s address. Most spam comes from email addresses that don’t make sense or appear as gibberish – for example, amazondeals@tX94002222aitx2.com or similar. By hovering over the sender’s name, which itself may be spelled oddly, you can see the full email address. If you’re not sure if an email address is legitimate or not, you can put it into a search engine to check.
- Consider what kind of information is being requested. Legitimate companies don’t contact you out of the blue via unsolicited emails to ask you for personal information, such as banking or credit card details, your Social Security number and so on.
- Be wary if the message is creating a sense of urgency. Spammers often try to apply pressure by creating a sense of urgency. For example, the subject line may contain words like “urgent” or “immediate action required” to pressure you into acting.
The post How to avoid scams involving fake deliveries, WhatsApp appeared first on Speed Magazine.
Source: Speed Magazine PH
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