12 Holiday Shopping

ScamsGreater Cleveland PC

Users Group

November 2011

Basic information from MSNBC / McAfee

Many of us are already shopping online, or will be soon, for the holidays. "Cyber-criminals rub their hands with glee when they think of the holidays," said Gary Davis, director of consumer product marketing at McAfee.

“Consumers are makingtravel plans, shoppingfor gifts and bargains,updating Facebook andconnecting with friends.”However, the vast majority have no security protection for their smartphones or tablets, despite using them heavily during the holiday season.

Consumers need to stay one step ahead of this season's cyber-scrooges, and make sure they have protection for all of their internet-enabled devices. Otherwise, they could risk giving the bad guys the biggest gift of all - their own personal and financial information."

Mobile MalwareMore of us are using ourphones for shopping, toresearch products or toredeem coupons. McAfeesays Android phones are"most at risk," citing "a 76percent increase in malwaretargeted at Android devices inthe second quarter of 011 over the first, making it the most targeted smartphone platform."

Mobile Malware

McAfee also saysnew malware "hasrecently been foundthat targets QR codes,a digital barcode thatconsumers might scanwith their smartphone to find good deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, or just to learn about products they want to buy."

Malicious Mobile Apps

These are mobile appsdesigned to steal infor-mation from smartphones,or send out expensivetext messages withouta user’s consent. Dangerous apps are usually offered for free, and masquerade as fun applications, such as games.

Malicious Mobile Apps

For example, last year,4.6 million Android smart-phone users downloadeda suspicious wallpaper appthat collected and trans-mitted user data to a sitein China.

Phony Facebook Promotions

"Who doesn’t want to winsome free prizes or get agreat deal around theHolidays?" One recentscam promised two freeairline tickets — something that sounds appealing at this time of year especially — "but required participants to fill out multiple surveys requesting personal information."

Scareware: Fake Antivirus / Security Update

"Scareware is thefake antivirussoftware thattricks someoneinto believing thattheir computer isat risk or alreadyinfected — so they agree to download and pay for phony software.”

Scareware: Fake Antivirus / Security Update

McAfee says it'sone of "the mostcommon anddangerous Internetthreats today, withan estimated 1 millvictims falling forthis scam each day."

Holiday ScreensaversAh yes, we love our screensavers for special times of the years like Christmas. But some of the free ones are loaded with more than holiday cheer. "A recent search for a Santa screensaver that promises to let you 'fly with Santain 3D' is malicious,“ McAfee says."Holiday ringtones &e-cards have beenknown to be malicioustoo."

Mac MalwareThose two words wouldn'thave even been put to-gether in the samesentence a few years ago.But, as McAfee correctlysays, "with the growingpopularity of Apple products,for both business and personal use, cyber criminals have designed a new wave of malware directed squarely at Mac users."

Mac MalwareMcAfee Labs saysas of a year ago,there were "5,000pieces of malwaretargeting Macs, andthis number is in-creasing by 10percent month on month."

Holiday Phishing Scams

"Cyber scammersknow that mostpeople are busyaround the holidaysso they tailor theiremails and socialmessages with holiday themes in the hopes of tricking recipients into revealing personal information.“

Holiday Phishing Scams

 A "common holidayphishing scam is aphony notice from UPS,saying you have apackage and need tofill out an attached formto get it delivered. Theform may ask for personal or financial details that will go straight into the hands of the cyber scammer."

Online Coupon Scams

Whether you'rean extremecouponer or anoccasional one,the season isrife with good online offers andmalicious ones. "Scammers know that by offering an irresistible online coupon, they can get people to hand over some of their personal information," McAfee says.

Online Coupon Scams

"One popular scam isto lure consumers withthe hope of winning a'free' iPad. Consumersclick on a 'phishing' site, which can result in email spam." Anotheris that "consumers are offered an online coupon code and once they agree, are asked to provide personal information, including credit-card details, passwords and other financial data."

Mystery Shopper Scams

"There have beenreports of scammerssending text messagesto victims, offering topay them $50 an hourto be a mystery shopper,and instructing them to call a number if they are interested.  Once the victim calls, they are asked for their personal information, including credit card and bank account numbers."

Hotel Wrong Transaction

"In one recent example, ascammer sent out emailsthat appeared to be from ahotel, claiming that a'wrong transaction' hadbeen discovered on therecipient’s credit card.  It then asked them to fill out an attached refund form. Once opened, the attachment downloads malware onto their machine."

“It” Gift Scams

"When a gift is hot, not onlydo sellers mark up theprice, but scammers willalso start advertising thesegifts on rogue websites &social networks, even if they don’t have them," says McAfee. "So,consumers could wind up paying for an item and giving away credit card details only to receive nothing in return." 

“I’m away from home”

You know this by now, or should: "Posting infor-mation about a vacationon social networking sitescould be dangerous. Ifsomeone is connected with people they don’t know on Facebook or other social networking sites, they could see their post & decide that it may be a good time to rob them. Furthermore, a quick online search can easily turn up their home address."

Protecting Yourself

Aside from buying McAfee's products, or those from another security vendor, here are some of McAfee's tips on staying safe in general, but especially in the weeks ahead: "Only download mobile apps from

official app stores, such as iTunes and the Android Market, and read user reviews before downloading them.“

Protecting Yourself "Be extra vigilant when reviewing and

responding to emails." "Watch out for too-good-to-be-true offers

on social networks (free airline tickets). Never agree to reveal your information just to participate in a promotion."

"Don’t accept requests on social networks from people you don’t know in real life. Wait to post pictures and comments about your vacation until you’ve already returned home."

Protecting Yourself If you are asked to copy and paste

some code into your web browser to get a prize or special offer, do NOT do it. The code is usually a javascript which WILL create all kinds of havoc for you.

Have a current anti-virus program that you keep up to date. There are ones you can buy & free ones which are very good. See http://gcpcug.org/antivirus for more details.

Protecting YourselfRun an anti-maleware program like

MalwareBytes on a regular basis. See http://gcpcug.org/antivirus for more details.

Download programs, especially anti-virus and anti-malware, from reputable websites not websites or warning messages that pop up on your screen.

Be aware and be on guard.

Credits Elmo is a trademark of Sesame Workshop Android is a trademark of Google Inc. iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. Original MSNBC article

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/09/8720555-12-online-holiday-scams-to-avoid

Original McAfee Blog Post http://blogs.mcafee.com/consumer/recipe-for-spoiling-holiday-cheer-top-holiday-viruses-scams

The pictures you have seen came from the following sites. Do not automatically go to those sites as some of them may be bogus sites.

www.mcafee.com

www.the-social-feed.com/

blog.uspsoig.gov/

www.hyper6.com/

www.trendmicro.com/

www.landingpagewebdesign.com

www.datarescuetools.com/

www.winfreestuffdaily.com/

justincaseyouwerewondering.com/

www.joelbuckland.com/

www.crazythemes.com/

www.freebies-freestuff-freesamples.com

www.screensaverfine.com/

www.macrumors.com/

office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/?CTT=97