As soon as the month of December begins the only thing that comes to mind is shopping gifts for friends and loved ones. It is the holiday season. Everyone around is busy purchasing gifts. But often during this time we forget to keep even the basic security measures in mind. This leads to various cyber crimes and online scams that leave you with a bitter experience.
You need to keep a watchful eye on the potential threats lurking around you. It is especially in this holiday season that the hackers and cyber criminals are active. In order to keep these threats away and avoid any potential harm you need to recognize the tell-tale signs. According to cyber experts there are 12 scams that you need to be aware of. These include mobile apps, games and other methods that extract user data and they tamper with vital information.
Following are 12 potentially dangerous scams along with tips to avoid them:
1. Malicious mobile malware: If you are one of those users who often use a mobile device for shopping, then you need to be extra careful. Mobile shopping has chances of being infected by mobile malware. This harmful software will steal your contacts and other information to be manipulated later on.
2. Mobile applications: It often happens that you chance upon an app that looks so enticing that you want to download it on your mobile device. A chat application or an application offering free text messages initially may be harmful. These applications or programs are structured to steal vital information from your mobile device. It can also automatically send out messages to unknown people which may be potentially harmful and even cost you a lot. You will only come to know about it after you receive a hefty bill amount. You need to be extra careful about these applications and never download stuff randomly without actually knowing whether it is genuine or not.
3. Fake promotions: During this holiday season it is a known fact that everyone is on the lookout for discounts and free gifts. Knowing this a hacker will offer many such fake deals and then at your expense gather all the possible information. Your personal information like financial details or passwords will then be misused for further committing illegal activities. These can be done via Facebook or other such social media websites.
4. Fake antivirus software: The most common trick that a cybercriminal resorts to is the technique of scare. The user is lured into believing that installing a given antivirus will help in securing the system. These are not authentic sources or companies and they fake antivirus. Once the user downloads these their system is hacked.
5. Holiday Screensavers: Beware of free holiday theme screen savers, wall papers or even attractive animated mouse click icons. These are the tricks to enter your system. The moment you download these, your system is automatically hacked without your consent.
6. Mac malware: It is said that Mac users are safe from any threat. This is a myth. Now days there are various online threats that are directed towards the Mac users in particular. Various programs, fake applications and software are designed to target apple products.
7. Phishing scams: Another common scam that is ongoing these days is phishing. The user comes across a fake notice about the delivery of a gift or a parcel. Then they are asked to fill in the detailed form to acquire the delivery. This way all the details of the user are collected by the hacker and then used for illegal activities.
8. Online free coupon scams: Bogus deals and free online coupons is another technique used by online criminals. Anyone who is unaware of these falls into the trap of fake deals while trying to avail its benefit. Important and confidential data stored in systems are stolen and tampered with. This includes information like bank details, credit card information, passwords and other financial information.
9. Fun job scams: During this festival season it is quite a catch if someone lands a fun filled job that offers good money. But it might not be so. It can be just another trick designed to take all the user information. So, beware of these con tricks and scams.
10. Malware e-mails: We communicate a lot via emails we often do not log off our e-mail accounts. Taking advantage of this habit there are posers who send e-mails stating transaction errors. These are just spam and you need to ignore these.
11. It gift scams: Scammers often entice the users by giving free access to a gift available online either on a social media website or another fake website. The users often give out all their information without receiving anything significant in return. You need to keep in mind that this is yet another trick and you must avoid it.
12. Home alone scammers: Almost everyone is in a habit of posting their holiday pictures or fun activity pictures over social media websites. This is widely shared and many people connected in the network get a clear idea that you are away from home. Even the online scammer is now aware that you are off to some holiday destination and now is the chance to rob the house. You must avoid doing it while you are outside home for some days. Once you are back then you can spread the word but not while you are out.
Knowing about these various scams that are prevalent online is half the battle won. Now if you need to actually counter these then the only way is seeking a good security suite and asking the help of online tech support. A tech expert will help you know all about various online security measures that you need to undertake to avoid any online risk. This will save you a lot of time and money as well. They will perform regular system scans to check for any virus infections or malware and even help remove it once it is found.
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