Google warns people about five major holiday season scams

Google is warning Gmail users about five significant scams and spams that people have experienced over the holiday season. The tech behemoth has warned consumers to stay away from scams involving gift cards and giveaways, charities, demographic targeting, subscription renewals, and cryptocurrency.

In a blog post, the search engine claimed that it shields users from over 15 billion spam messages daily and stops more than 99.9% of malware, phishing, and spam.

1. Gift cards and giveaways

Gift card and giveaway frauds are prevalent during the peak shopping season. By pretending to be a recognized contact or offering a free present in exchange for their credit card number, scammers may try to fool victims into buying a gift card for them. Send your friend a quick text to make sure they sent the email if you get one from Prague or Pennsylvania requesting you to buy them a gift card. Additionally, if a giveaway seems too good to be true, it can be a scam.

2. Demographic targeting

The frauds that are most precisely intended for you are among the most heinous. Due to the fact that many scams involve a specific aspect of your life or identity, they may appear more intimate. Keep a look out for identity-based malicious emails this holiday season, which may impersonate local PTA board members or target certain age groups with fake emails.

3. Charities

Attackers don’t exercise any caution throughout the holiday season. During this time of year, charity-related scams and phishing attempts actually increase, which is detrimental to both the victims of the frauds and the charities that would have benefited from the donations. Be on the lookout for anyone encouraging you to contact them on their personal email or contribute money to them personally, whether it’s a purported charity connected to a topic in the news or an organization with a famous name.

4. Crypto scams

Crypto-based fraud, a separate form of fraud, can be common during this season. These frauds frequently come in different forms, one of which attempts to extort money from a victim by threatening them. Gmail may alert you to these absurd demands, but it’s also crucial to know how to recognize them so you can avoid falling for these kinds of scams. Typos, suspicious-looking email addresses, or requests for money are a few major red flags.

5. Subscription renewals

Scams involving membership renewals often increase as the year comes to a close. An especially unwanted form of these emails impersonates antivirus programs in an effort to attract victims with the illusion of increased security. Even though some scammers are highly skilled at making their messages appear believable, you should always check the sender’s email. If something seems wrong, it might be fake.

The good news is that Gmail helps block these and numerous other fraudulent and undesired tactics, despite the overwhelming variety of malicious activity. Advanced phishing and malware controls are enabled by default in Gmail, helping to protect users from online threats. Although this is a dynamic, never-ending problem, their tools and security specialists are continually searching the data to identify new attack vectors and developing cutting-edge defenses to keep Google users safe.