Fraud Tip of the Day - December 5

Email Scams Target the Holidays

Go through your email inbox with care this Holiday season. Identity Theft and Phishing Scams peak during the Holidays.

The Holidays are a perfect time for ID Theft and Phishing scams. Legitimate advertising picks up, we shop or research gift ideas on the web and we expect friends or relatives to send us e-greeting cards. All these reasons and more make us ripe targets for bogus emails.

Some of the more common email scams include:

• PayPal account problems or security alerts
• Problems with your bank or credit union account
• Ebay account problems

In each of these you're sent an official looking email that may include all the formatting and logos you'd expect warning you of some kind of problem relating to your account. You're asked to log in and fix it. If you respond to these emails and do what they ask, you could wind up having your bank account drained dry. Never respond to emails like this. Ebay, PayPal, your bank and credit unions would never, ever email you and request that you click links in the email they sent you. This makes spotting the fake ones a lot easier!

Other common email scams include:

• Emails informing you that you've won either and international or Internet Lottery
• Messages informing you that you've won a sweepstakes
• Dubious business propositions like cashing checks for overseas businesses
• Hot stock tips that come out of nowhere
• Unusual employment offers for jobs you never applied for
• Hot Russian women that want to meet you
• Nigerian scams in which you're asked to help move large sums of money out of a country

There are a lot more but there are common themes to all of these. Did you ever enter that contest, lottery or sweepstakes? Why would someone contact you out of the blue and ask for your help in a business proposition? Who are these people and why don't they ever mention your name in the email? If you guessed that the reason is because they sent the same same email out to thousands of people you're a winner! Another clue in these emails is that the English and grammar is often extremely poor. If you check your email with a skeptical eye, these emails stand out as plain as day. When in doubt, show the email to a friend. Just use your head and you won't fall victim to any of these scams.

Be smart and be safe online this Holiday season!