SCAMMERS are using fake websites to lure Attack.Phishing in Cyber Monday and Christmas shoppers and take their money . Be wary of `` too good to be true '' offers on Fingerlings toys , iPhones and fashion as they 're the most common items sold by fraudsters , according to the City of London Police . With shoppers set to spend £2.96billion by the end of Cyber Monday , fraud experts have warned that scammers will tempt Attack.Phishing shoppers with suspiciously good deals so they buy their counterfeit items and hand over their card details . They 'll also set up Attack.Phishing fake websites that look like Attack.Phishing genuine retailers to trick Attack.Phishing people into giving away their data and payment details , according to a new report by Action Fraud and the City of London Police . Phishing emails containing tempting deals which entice Attack.Phishing shoppers to click on links to fake websites are also on the rise on Cyber Monday and over the Christmas period , the report said . Scammers are using social media websites such as Facebook , re-selling websites such as Gumtree and online auction websites such as eBay to target Christmas shoppers , experts revealed . Mobile phones - particularly Apple iPhones - are the most common item that people try to buy from fraudsters , according to the report . Seventy-four per cent of all mobiles bought from fraudsters were iPhones , the study said . Electrical and household items , computers , fashion and accessories are also commonly sold to fraud victims , including Apple MacBooks , Ugg boots and Fingerlings toys - so be wary of `` too good to be true '' offers for these items . Women aged between 20 and 29 are the most likely to be caught out by scammers , according to the report , with 30 per cent of fraud reports coming from young women . But the police have warned that everyone should stay on their guard as anyone can fall victim to Christmas shopping fraudsters . More than 15,000 shoppers lost a total of £11million to scammers over the Christmas period last year . Detective Chief Superintendent Pete O ’ Doherty , of the City of London Police , said : “ Unfortunately , at what is an expensive time of year for many , the internet has provided fraudsters with a platform to lure Attack.Phishing people in with the promise of cheap deals . He added : “ To stop fraudsters in their tracks , be cautious of where and from whom you ’ re buying , especially if it is technology at a reduced price . '' Tony Neate , CEO of Get Safe Online , a free fraud awareness website , said : “ It can be easy to rush into making a quick purchase online to secure a must have gift or bargain without taking the time to check that everything is as it seems . “ But taking a couple of minutes to familiarise yourself with a few simple online safety tips can be the difference between getting all your shopping done in time and becoming a victim of online fraud . '' There are plenty of Black Friday and Cyber Monday scams around at the moment - we 've revealed the latest tricks used by fraudsters . Meanwhile scammers claiming to be Attack.Phishing from Tesco are running a fake competition in an attempt to steal your bank details .

As thousands of freshmen move into their dorms for the first time , there are plenty of thoughts rushing through their minds : their first time away from home , what cringey nickname they 're gon na try to make a thing , if there are any parties before orientation kicks off . One thing that probably is n't on their minds is whether they 're going to get hacked . But that 's all Carnegie Mellon University 's IT department thinks about . Back-to-school season means hordes of vulnerable computers arriving on campus . The beginning of the semester is the most vulnerable time for a campus network , and every year , with new students coming in , schools have to make sure everything runs smoothly . Carnegie Mellon 's network gets hit with 1,000 attacks a minute -- and that 's on a normal day . Cybersecurity is an increasingly important aspect of our everyday lives , with technology playing a massive role in nearly everything we do . Universities have been vulnerable to attacks Attack.Databreach in the past , with cybercriminals stealing Attack.Databreach student and faculty databases and hackers vandalizing university websites . Students are often targets for hackers , even before they 're officially enrolled . Considering how much money flows into a university from tuition costs , along with paying for room and board , criminals are looking to cash in on weak campus cybersecurity . A bonus for hackers : Admissions offices often hold data with private information like student Social Security numbers and addresses , as well as their families ' data from financial aid applications . Phishing Attack.Phishing happens when hackers steal Attack.Databreach your passwords by sending Attack.Phishing you links to fake websites that look like Attack.Phishing the real deal . It 's how Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee during the presidential election , and it 's a popular attack to use on universities as well . The latest warning , sent Monday , called out malware hidden in a document pretending to be Attack.Phishing from Syracuse University 's chancellor . Digging through my old emails , I found about 20 phishing Attack.Phishing warnings that had gone out during the four years I 'd been there . Syracuse declined to comment on phishing attacks Attack.Phishing against the school , but in a 2016 blog post , it said the attacks were `` getting more frequent , cunning and malicious . '' The school is not alone . Duo Security , which protects more than 400 campuses , found that 70 percent of universities in the UK have fallen victim to phishing attacks Attack.Phishing . Syracuse , which uses Duo Security , fights phishing attacks Attack.Phishing with two-factor authentication , which requires a second form of identity verification , like a code sent to your phone . But it just rolled out the feature last year . Kendra Cooley , a security analyst at Duo Security , pointed out that students are more likely to fall for phishing attacks Attack.Phishing because they have n't been exposed to them as frequently as working adults have . Also , cybercriminals know how to target young minds . `` You see a lot of click-bait phishing messages like celebrity gossip or free travel , '' Cooley said . All students at Carnegie Mellon are required to take a tech literacy course , in which cybersecurity is a focus , said Mary Ann Blair , the school 's chief information security officer . The school also runs monthly phishing campaigns Attack.Phishing : If a student or faculty member falls Attack.Phishing for the friendly trap Attack.Phishing , they 're redirected to a training opportunity . When your network is being hit with at least two phishing attempts Attack.Phishing a day , Blair said , it 's a crucial precaution to keep students on guard . `` It 's just constantly jiggling the doorknobs to see if they 're unlocked , '' Blair said . `` A lot of it is automated attacks . '' It 's not just the thousands of new students that have university IT departments bracing for impact , it 's also their gadgets . `` All these kids are coming on campus , and you do n't know the security level of their devices , and you ca n't manage it , because it 's theirs , '' said Dennis Borin , a senior solutions architect at security company EfficientIP . A lot of university IT teams have their hands tied because they ca n't individually go to every student and scan all their computers . Borin 's company protects up to 75 campuses across the United States , and it 's always crunch time at the beginning of the semester . `` If I was on campus , I would n't let anybody touch my device , '' Borin said . `` So if somebody has malware on their device , how do you protect against an issue like that ? '' Instead of going through every single student , Borin said , his company just casts a wide net over the web traffic . If there 's any suspicious activity coming from a specific device , they 're able to send warnings to the student and kick him or her off the network when necessary . Keeping school networks safe is important for ensuring student life runs smoothly . A university that had only two people on its team reached out to EfficientIP after it suffered an attack . All of the school 's web services were down for an entire week while recovering from the attack , Borin said . Scam artists love to take advantage of timing , and the back-to-school season is a great opportunity for them . There was an influx of fake ransomware protection apps when WannaCry hit Attack.Ransom , as well as a spike in phony Pokemon Go apps stuffed with malware during the height of the game 's popularity . If there 's a massive event going on , you can bet people are flooding the market with phony apps to trick Attack.Phishing victims into downloading viruses . A quick search for `` back to school apps '' in August found 1,182 apps that were blacklisted for containing malware or spyware , according to security firm RiskIQ . Researchers from the company scanned 120 mobile app stores , including the Google Play store , which had more than 300 blacklisted apps . They found apps for back-to-school tools ; themes and wallpapers for your device ; and some apps that promised to help you `` cheat on your exams . '' Though most of the blacklisted apps are poorly made games , others pretend to help you be a better student . Other warning signs to watch out for when it comes to sketchy apps are poorly written reviews and developers using public domain emails for contacts , Risk IQ said . For any educational apps , like Blackboard Learn , you should always check the sources and look for the official versions . New students coming to school have enough to worry about . Let 's hope a crash course in cybersecurity is enough to ensure they make it to graduation without getting hit by hacks .

Criminals are trying to steal money from Netflix customers with a sophisticated new scam Attack.Phishing . Subscribers are being sent Attack.Phishing convincing fake emails asking them to update their payment information . While they look to be Attack.Phishing from Netflix itself , they are in fact from criminals and scammers . The message currently circulating reads : `` We 're having some trouble with your current billing information . `` We 'll try again , but in the meantime you may want to update your payment details . '' There is a red button telling you to `` Update Account now '' at the end of the message . This link takes you to a fake-designed site to look like Attack.Phishing Netflix , but in fact is run by scammers . An urgent warning has been issued about the email by the Federal Trade Commission , a US government agency that told consumers not to `` take the bait Attack.Phishing `` . `` Scammers use your information to steal your money , your identity , or both , '' it reads . `` They also use Attack.Phishing phishing emails to get access to your computer or network . `` If you click on a link , they can install ransomware or other programs that can lock you out of your data . ''

Scammers are flooding the United States with Chinese-language robocalls , causing major headaches from coast to coast . These new robocalls are a lot like the ones you ’ ve already gotten on your phone at all hours of the day and night : Your phone rings , you pick up , and after a brief pause or maybe a quiet click or beep , a prerecorded voice message meets your ears . The recording , which often sounds like a young woman , usually delivers a message about lowering credit-card rates or buying into cheap health insurance . If you fall for the bait Attack.Phishing , you ’ re transferred to a live human who will try anything to get you to hand over your credit-card or bank account info . The important thing to remember is that sales robocalls are illegal in the United States . So , don ’ t expect the person on the other end of the line to follow through on whatever deal they claim to offer . You ’ re much more likely to fall victim to an identity theft scam or credit-card fraud than to score a deal from one of these spam callers . The new Chinese-language version of these calls targets immigrants . The robocalls deliver a recorded message claiming to be Attack.Phishing from the Chinese consulate , saying the recipient is in trouble with Chinese officials , or sometimes that a package is waiting at the Chinese consulate that needs to be picked up . Then , the robocall asks for a deposit or fee , demanding a credit-card number or bank information . Sometimes the robocall or live operator who follows it makes a threat , suggesting that more trouble will come if the person doesn ’ t willingly hand over their financial info , according to the Federal Trade Commission . In New York City alone , police estimate at least 30 residents had been scammed out of $ 3 million , according to National Public Radio . The Chinese Consulate General in New York says it has posted dozens of alerts on its website warning about the scams . `` We would like to restate that the Consulate General in New York would not ask for personal information , deliver parcel pick-up notice or ask people to answer inquiries from police department by way of phone calls . The Consulate General would not ask for bank account information , '' it warned . The scammers are also upping the ante with a tech trick Attack.Phishing called “ spoofing Attack.Phishing . ” Spoofed calls can fake Attack.Phishing caller ID numbers , making them look like Attack.Phishing they ’ re coming from Attack.Phishing a familiar number , nearby area code , your hometown or in this case , the Chinese consulate , according to the Federal Communications Commission , which also issued an alert . So , even if you do n't speak Chinese , why would you get so many calls ? The scammers don ’ t know who they ’ re calling , and it costs virtually nothing to place a phone call , so if they hit a few thousand English-speaking phones for every one Chinese speaker that ’ s totally fine with them . This scam uses many of the same ploys used on unsuspecting English speakers , say in the scam where the caller pretends to be Attack.Phishing from the IRS and is demanding payments on back taxes that don ’ t really exist .

Cybercriminals are finding it more difficult to maintain the malicious URLs and deceptive domains used for phishing attacks Attack.Phishing for more than a few hours because action is being taken to remove them from the internet much more quickly . That does n't mean that phishing Attack.Phishing -- one of the most common means of performing cyber-attacks -- is any less dangerous , but a faster approach to dealing with the issue is starting to hinder attacks . Deceptive domain names look like Attack.Phishing those of authentic services , so that somebody who clicks on a malicious link may not realise they are n't visiting the real website of the organisation being spoofed Attack.Phishing . One of the most common agencies to be imitated Attack.Phishing by cyber-attackers around the world is that of government tax collectors . The idea behind such attacks Attack.Phishing is that people will be tricked Attack.Phishing into believing they are owed money by emails claiming to be Attack.Phishing from the taxman . However , no payment ever comes , and if a victim falls for such an attack , they 're only going to lose money when their bank details are stolen Attack.Databreach , and they can even have their personal information compromised Attack.Databreach . In order to combat phishing Attack.Phishing and other forms of cyber-attack , the UK 's National Cyber Crime Centre -- the internet security arm of GCHQ -- launched what it called the Active Cyber Defence programme a year ago . It appears to have some success in its first 12 months because , despite a rise in registered fraudulent domains , the lifespan of a phishing URL has been reduced and the number of global phishing attacks Attack.Phishing being carried out by UK-hosted sites has declined from five percent to three percent . The figures are laid out in a new NCSC report : Active Cyber Defence - One Year On . During that time , 121,479 phishing sites hosted in the UK , and 18,067 worldwide spoofing Attack.Phishing UK government , were taken down , with many of them purporting to be Attack.Phishing HMRC and linked to phishing emails in the form of tax refund scams . An active approach to dealing with phishing domains has also led to a reduction in the amount of time these sites are active , potentially limiting cybercriminal campaigns before they can gain any real traction . Prior to the launch of the program , the average time a phishing website spoofing Attack.Phishing a UK government website remained active was for 42 hours -- or almost two days . Now , with an approach designed around looking for domains and taking them down , that 's dropped to ten hours , leaving a much smaller window for attacks to be effective . However , while this does mean there 's less time for the attackers to steal Attack.Databreach information or finances , it does n't mean that they 're not successful in carrying out attacks . The increased number of registered domains for carrying out phishing attacks Attack.Phishing shows that crooks are happy to work a little bit harder in order to reap the rewards of campaigns -- and the NCSC is n't under any illusion that the job of protecting internet users is anywhere near complete . `` The ACD programme intends to increase our cyber adversaries ' risk and reduces their return on investment to protect the majority of people in the UK from cyber attacks , '' said Dr Ian Levy , technical director of the NCSC . `` The results we have published today are positive , but there is a lot more work to be done . The successes we have had in our first year will cause attackers to change their behaviour and we will need to adapt . '' A focus on taking down HMRC and other government-related domains has helped UK internet users , but cyber-attacks are n't limited by borders , with many malicious IPs hosted in practically every country used to carry out cyber-attacks around the world -- meaning every country should be playing a part . `` Obviously , phishing Attack.Phishing and web-inject attacks are not connected to the UK 's IP space and most campaigns of these types are hosted elsewhere . There needs to be concerted international effort to have a real effect on the security of users , '' says the report .

Prize scams are as old as the hills , but people keep falling for them — sending the fraudsters hundreds , sometimes thousands of dollars to claim their cash , luxury cars or other non-existent prizes . Sweepstakes , lottery and prize scams “ are among the most serious and pervasive frauds operating today , ” according to a new report from the Better Business Bureau . And along with phone calls , letters and email , the crooks are now using text messages , pop-ups and phony Facebook messages to lure Attack.Phishing their victims . In fact , social media is now involved in a third of the sweepstakes fraud complaints received by the FBI ’ s Internet Crime Complaint Center ( IC3 ) . “ Scammers are like viruses . They mutate and adapt and find things that work , ” said Steve Baker , former director of the Federal Trade Commission ’ s Midwest region and author of the BBB report . “ The crooks have discovered social media big time and since social media is free to use , they can easily do a whole lot of damage from other countries. ” The BBB study found that : Nearly 500,000 people reported a sweepstakes , lottery or other prize scam to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada in the last three years . Monetary losses totaled $ 117 million last year . Facebook Messenger Lottery Fraud Scammers are creating Attack.Phishing bogus websites that look like Attack.Phishing a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes site . Or they are reaching out to potential victims who don ’ t properly set their privacy settings on social media platforms such as Facebook . The BBB report says Facebook Messenger , the private messaging app , is a favorite way for fraudsters to find victims . They can use Messenger — with or without a Facebook profile — and contact people who are not Facebook friends . In many cases , the bogus message appears to be Attack.Phishing from Publishers Clearing House ( PCH ) congratulating you on winning a big prize . To claim that prize , it says , you need to send them money . “ That ’ s a red flag warning , ” said Chris Irving , a PCH assistant vice president . “ If anybody asks you to send money to collect a prize , you know it 's a scam and it 's not from the real Publishers Clearing House . At Publishers Clearing House or any legitimate sweepstakes , the winning is always free — no purchase , no payment , no taxes or customs to pay. ” The crooks also impersonate Attack.Phishing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in some of their phony Messenger messages . “ They post Attack.Phishing a fake profile of Zuckerberg on Facebook , ” Baker said . “ Then they send Attack.Phishing you a message through the Facebook messenger system saying : ‘ Hi this is Mark Zuckerberg . I 'm delighted to be able to tell you that you have won the Facebook Lottery and here is the person you need to contact to get the money . ’ ” Take the bait Attack.Phishing and click the link , and you ’ ll be told to send money to claim your winnings . Of course , there is no Facebook Lottery and Zuckerberg is not sending prize notices to anyone . In a recent story on social media scams , the New York Times reported it found 208 accounts that impersonated Zuckerberg or Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on Facebook and Instagram . At least 51 of the impostor accounts , including 43 on Instagram , were lottery scams . ( In 2012 , Facebook purchased Instagram for $ 1 billion . ) Facebook says it ’ s working to stop the scammers who use its platform to trick Attack.Phishing people out of their money . In March , the company announced it was using new machine learning techniques that helped it detect more than a half-million accounts related to fraudulent activity . “ These ploys are not allowed on Facebook and we 're constantly working to better defend against them , ” said Product Manager Scott Dickens . “ While we block millions of fake accounts at registration every day , we still need to focus on the would-be scammers who manage to create accounts . Our new machine learning models are trained on previously confirmed scams to help detect new ones. ” The company has also posted a warning on how to avoid Facebook scams . The BBB report calls on Facebook and other social media platforms to make “ additional efforts ” to prevent fake profiles and to make it easier for users to contact them about fraud .

It ’ s tax season , and that means con artists and scammers are out in full force trying to capitalize on people ’ s financial anxieties . The IRS puts out strong warnings each year—often republishing its “ ’ Dirty Dozen ’ list of tax scams ” several times between January and April . This year , phishing schemes Attack.Phishing —in which scammers send Attack.Phishing emails pretending to be Attack.Phishing from the IRS in order to trick Attack.Phishing people into divulging sensitive information—topped the list . “ We urge taxpayers to watch out for these tricky and dangerous schemes , ” acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said in a March 5 warning to consumers . “ Phishing Attack.Phishing and other scams on the ‘ Dirty Dozen ’ list can trap Attack.Phishing unsuspecting taxpayers . Being cautious and taking basic security steps can help protect people and their sensitive tax and financial data. ” Threat researchers at Zscaler published a blog on March 15 outlining four new phishing schemes Attack.Phishing they identified during this tax season , most of which used fake IRS websites to steal taxpayers ’ information . “ Cybercriminals have long used social engineering and phishing techniques to lure Attack.Phishing unsuspecting users into giving away private information , ” the researchers wrote . “ They track current trends and events to make their attacks more effective , and tax season offers a rich opportunity for attackers to disguise themselves as Attack.Phishing well-known brands and even government agencies in an effort to exploit users. ” This tendency is on display with the “ chalbhai ” phishing attack Attack.Phishing , which uses a spoof of an outdated IRS form to trick Attack.Phishing users into giving up their tax identification information , which can then be used to file false returns . While studying this campaign , researchers noticed the term “ chalbhai ” used in the source code . “ We have typically seen this tag associated with phishing pages that look like Attack.Phishing Microsoft Office 365 , Apple ID , Dropbox or DocuSign , ” Zscaler wrote . “ This is a good example of criminals adapting their phishing content to reflect current trends , ” i.e. , tax season . Another similar scheme directed users to a fake IRS page for unlocking expired passwords . Researchers noted this campaign was particularly tricky , as users were redirected Attack.Phishing to a legitimate IRS page after giving up their information . “ With this page , ” they wrote , “ the attacker is attempting to prevent user suspicion by redirecting the user from this phishing page to a legitimate e-policy statement hosted on the actual IRS page… At this point , the victims believe they have completed the account unlock process and they proceed to log in on the legitimate page unaware that their information has been stolen. ” Researchers also found similar tactics used to get taxpayers ’ logins for tax preparer sites like TurboTax . In a fourth example , Zscaler researchers found an encrypted phishing page designed to mask their ill-intent from security measures . After a user downloads the page , it is decrypted within the browser , skirting some security checks . In all these examples , users could have avoided the scam by double-checking the URL in the browser , which all included additional characters before the .gov domain , indicating users were not actually at an official IRS site .

If there ’ s one thing that can be counted on to happen every year around tax season — besides the ongoing tax preparation service commercials — it ’ s fraud . Whether it ’ s selling Attack.Databreach W2 forms online or sending Attack.Phishing malicious emails that look like Attack.Phishing they are from the IRS , cybercriminals tend to keep themselves busy this time of year . Rick Holland , VP of strategy at Digital Shadows , joined this week ’ s Hacker Tracker to highlight how cybercriminals are utilizing the dark web to support their tax fraud campaigns . Earlier this year , the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported that there was a reduction in the number of fraudulent tax returns identified between 2013 and 2015 . On the other hand , around that same time the IRS released data showing that phishing Attack.Phishing and malware incidents in the 2016 tax season increased by 400 percent . Noting that the number of identified fraudulent returns was not indicative of the overall levels of tax fraud occurring , Digital Shadows set out to reconcile two very different perspectives on the same problem . In response , the external digital risk management team recently released its research assessing dark web and criminal chatter related to tax fraud so far this year . As of February , the number of mentions in 2017 so far was already over 40 percent of the 2016 total . Rick Holland , VP of strategy at Digital Shadows , explained that cybercriminals are often using the dark web marketplaces to sell Attack.Databreach W2s for as little as $ 4 , which include a victim ’ s full information that can then be used for whatever campaign the cybercriminal is going to run . In fact , he noted that often cybercriminals capitalize on phishing Attack.Phishing and malware schemes during this time by using the term “ tax refund ” in an email subject of a message that looks like Attack.Phishing it ’ s from the IRS . However , those malicious emails are actually just delivering malware to a computer for other purposes , maybe to participate in a botnet or something similar . “ Sometimes it ’ s easy to think of the personal fraud that ’ s being committed , and certainly that is happening , but I think it ’ s important to remember that it goes much broader as far as what the adversaries are doing , ” Holland said . At the end of the day , fraudsters are doing everything they can increase the likelihood of their social engineering being successful . What ’ s Next In Tax Fraud Holland stressed how important it is for both consumers and businesses to under that there are differences in the types of cyber campaigns criminals perpetrate during tax season and that the threat of fraud can be much more encompassing during this time of year . Cybercriminals aren ’ t always going to go after credit card information , because they don ’ t have to . With increased sophistication and social engineering tactics , these criminals are not limited to relying on payment data alone to make money .

Malware posing as Attack.Phishing legitimate software for Siemens control gear has apparently infected industrial equipment worldwide over the past four years . The cyber-nasty is packaged as Attack.Phishing software to be installed on Siemens programmable logic controllers ( PLC ) , we 're told . At least 10 industrial plants – seven in the US – were found running the infected software , a study by industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos claims . According to the Maryland-based biz , this particular malware was specifically thrown at industrial control equipment . Exactly what it does , or did , is not explained , although it is described as `` crimeware '' . Dragos CEO Robert Lee writes : Starting in 2013 , there were submissions from an ICS environment in the US for Siemens programmable logic controller control software . The various anti-virus vendors were flagging it as a false positive initially , and then eventually a basic piece of malware . In short , there has been an active infection for the last four years of an adversary attempting to compromise industrial environments by theming their malware to look like Attack.Phishing Siemens control software . However , each new IP address punches another hole in the metaphorical wall that separates Information Technology ( IT ) and Operational Technology ( OT ) . Having established IT connectivity , it 's difficult to put the genie back in the bottle and each of these avenues is a potential point of weakness that can be compromised – by hackers burrowing in or malware ( such as ransomware ) detonating internally and then radiating out . '' Andrew Cooke , head of cyber consulting at Airbus Defence and Space CyberSecurity , added : `` Malware is prevalent in a wide range of industrial systems , often spread by an infected USB stick or by unauthorized remote access . But while the majority of malware found in these systems is low level , it can still pose a serious risk for the organizations concerned .

Cyber Monday is here ! If you avoided the retail stores and skipped their Black Friday deals , do n't worry , you 'll get another chance for major savings today . From clothing to travel to exclusive online-only deals , Cyber Monday still has tons to offer . But just in time for the Cyber Monday shopping rush , watch out for sinister phishing scams Attack.Phishing that are making the rounds . With more online shoppers this time around - searching every nook and cranny of the web in search of the best Cyber Monday deals - crooks are again looking to dupe Attack.Phishing unsuspecting bargain hunters . Stop and Think , Did I order this ? One of the most effective tools for a cybercriminal is the phishing scam Attack.Phishing . This is when a scammer poses as Attack.Phishing a trustworthy entity and tries tricking Attack.Phishing you into clicking on a malicious link . Their ultimate goal , of course , is to steal Attack.Databreach your sensitive information such as credit card details , usernames and passwords . With this year 's holiday online shopping numbers projected to be the biggest ever , millions of items will be processed and shipped . With this surge in shipping activity , consumer protection groups are warning everyone to watch out for fake delivery notices and package verification scams . For example , if you receive Attack.Phishing an email from `` Amazon '' saying that you have a pending delivery that needs verification from you , then that is most likely a phishing scam Attack.Phishing . Other email phishing scams Attack.Phishing may also pretend to provide Attack.Phishing you with a link for shipping updates or special discount coupons and offers . Another popular ploy is the phantom order scam . These alarming emails are meant to get you clicking by pretending Attack.Phishing you ordered thousands of dollars of merchandise . But before you click that link , look out , these deceitful messages can be extremely convincing . Fake delivery and shipping notifications can look just like Attack.Phishing the real thing , using real logos and art from company websites . These cybercriminals will even set up Attack.Phishing fake websites that look like Attack.Phishing the real deal to lure Attack.Phishing you into giving away your personal information and credit card details .

You may have heard of the CEO scam : that ’ s where spear-phishers impersonate Attack.Phishing a CEO to hit up a company for sensitive information . That ’ s what happened to Snapchat , when an email came in Attack.Phishing to its payroll department , masked as Attack.Phishing an email from CEO Evan Spiegel and asking for employee payroll information . Here ’ s a turn of that same type of screw : the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) last week sent out an urgent warning about a new tax season scam that wraps the CEO fraud in with a W-2 scam , then adds a dollop of wire fraud on top . A W-2 is a US federal tax form , issued by employers , that has a wealth of personal financial information , including taxpayer ID and how much an employee was paid in a year . This new and nasty dual-phishing scam Attack.Phishing has moved beyond the corporate world to target nonprofits such as school districts , healthcare organizations , chain restaurants , temporary staffing agencies and tribal organizations . As with earlier CEO spoofing scams Attack.Phishing , the crooks are doctoring emails to make the messages look like Attack.Phishing they ’ re coming from Attack.Phishing an organization ’ s executive . Sending Attack.Phishing the phishing messages to employees in payroll or human resources departments , the criminals request a list of all employees and their W-2 forms . The scam , sometimes referred to as business email compromise (BEC) Attack.Phishing or business email spoofing (BES) Attack.Phishing , first appeared last year . This year , it ’ s not only being sent to a broader set of intended victims ; it ’ s also being sent out earlier in the tax season than last year . In a new twist , this year ’ s spam scamwich also features a followup email from that “ executive ” , sent to Attack.Phishing payroll or the comptroller , asking for a wire transfer to a certain account . Some companies have been swindled twice : they ’ ve lost both employees ’ W-2s and thousands of dollars sent out via the wire transfers .