Watch out for post-holiday reward scams
With the holiday season now at a close and decorations being put away, many people find themselves eagerly awaiting spring break.
However, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns scammers also are eagerly anticipating targeting consumers with reward scams during this time of year.
During the holiday season, consumers likely spent a significant amount on gifts and accumulated reward points from various retailers. Now cyber-crooks are exploiting this by sending fraudulent emails and texts that mimic messages from major retailers, inviting you to redeem reward points.
Stay vigilant and protect yourself from these scams by verifying the authenticity of any reward-related communications you receive. For more information and tips on how to stay safe, visit the BBB website.
“There are very few of us who have not gotten reward scam emails in their inbox or text messages with urgent appeals to use it or lose it,” said Steve J. Bernas, BBB president and CEO. “The crooks are trying to get your credit card info, name, address, and store account number.”
This is yet another phishing scam. You receive an unsolicited email or text message that appears to be from a major retailer. Scammers frequently use retailers like Amazon, Kohl's, and Costco, but any company with a rewards program can be spoofed. The subject line often reads, “You have a new reward to claim” or something similar.
“Technology is at play here,” Bernas said. “It is shockingly easy to create legitimate-looking messages. And people are tricked into opening them.”
Fraudsters copy the company’s logo and colors and spoof a link to the company’s website. These con artists play on people’s emotions and curiosity, and hope recipients will click the link that can take them to a phishing landing page the scammers created (if you look closely, you will notice the URL is wrong) to steal their credentials.
The criminals also could install a backdoor, a type of malware that will give them full access to the user’s computer.
BBB tips to avoid scams:
• Do not click on links or download attachments from unknown emails. These may be a scam, and they will try to download malware onto your computer or steal your personal information.
• Got an unsolicited email? Please do not take it at face value. Scammers frequently send out mass emails that include little personal information. If the email does not address you by name or include any other identifying personal information, be cautious.
• Links can be spoofed. A link might say “kohls.com” but in reality, the link will take you to something totally different like “badsite.malware4u.com.” Not good. Before you click any links, hover your mouse over them to see the true URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and where the link will take you.
• Go directly to the source. You probably frequently get emails from your favorite shopping sites letting you know about a huge sale. Should you click these? No. Instead of clicking the link, go directly to the source whenever possible. For example, type in “amazon.com” and go to your account; do not click the link in any emails that pop into your inbox.
Always look for the BBB Seal — it’s the Sign of a Better Business.
• If you've encountered a scam, report it to BBB Scam Tracker. Your report exposes scammer tactics. Sign up for BBB’s free consumer newsletter, BBB Edge, at BBB.org/ChicagoBuzz. Visit BBB.org or follow @ChicagoBBB on social media.