Watch Out For These Father's Day Scams
Author: Nichlaus O.
Scammers love festive days! In the excitement to buy lovely gifts for our near and dear ones, we often neglect the signs of a scam. Father’s Day Scams are no exception. They have lots of common patterns like phishing emails, offers of free stuff, dubious gift cards, bait-and-switch tactics and the like.
Help yourself to these scam patterns that we have noted. The end game of these scams is money or data theft. The only difference will be that they will have Father’s Day themes splashed all over them. Be on the lookout for these fishy activities:
E-Cards with free malware
Electronic greeting cards or E-cards are convenient these days of COVID-19 regulations, especially if you forgot to buy a proper gift to send to your dad. Scammers exploit this by sending malware through links to free e-card downloads.
The malware may be keystroke logging software used to collect your passwords for identity theft. It could also be ransomware which encrypts your computer, making your data inaccessible to you. The scammer will then threaten to destroy all that data unless you pay.
TIP: Do not open an E-card unless it specifically indicates who sent it. Even if you know the sender, make sure your computer antivirus is updated and running. You cannot be too careful with stuff downloaded from the internet! DO NOT download or distribute free e-cards from untrustworthy sites. You may be simply distributing malware.
Phishing emails that try to steal your passwords
A phishing email is one of the oldest tricks in the scam book. It’s an email that looks like it is from a legitimate business that links you to a scammer site made to look like the real site. For example, an email that looks like it’s from PayPal and contains links that go to a fake site that mimics PayPal. Then, when you key in your details, the scammer gets your login credentials.
TIP: Check the sender on email before you use the links that direct you to shop and pay. They usually have fake email addresses that you can spot immediately.
AVOID following links from emails to your accounts in money sites like PayPal, Payoneer, and others. Open the site manually from your browser, it’s much safer that way.
Gift Card Scams
The gift card enterprise is booming. 2021 is expected to see a revenue upwards of $170 million in gift cards in the US. Online gift card purchases can be exploited by scammers to sell you cards that are not usable. Some consumers were duped by email gift cards that looked like they were from Amazon.
Typical electronic gift card scams:
- You receive an email that looks like it’s from your boss or someone you may know
- Requests you to purchase gift cards and ship to them the images of the backs
- OR someone asks you to pay by gift cards only and will not accept any other form of payment. If this is not the same store that sold you the cards, then it’s most likely a scam.
TIP: Buy gift cards in actual stores where you can examine that the PIN is secure. AVOID buying gift cards online. Mark as spam all emails that ask you to buy gift cards then take photos of the backs and ship back. Scammers are after the PIN of the cards at the back.
Gift cards are generally an unsafe payment method.
Data Theft Through "Free Gifts"
Most websites today have sign-up and login options. Some make it mandatory for you to create an account before you can use their service. Data theft takes the form of signing up to a website for its service.
Always ask yourself what the owners gain by giving you free things: airtime, phone data, calls, or any other gift when they get your full names, age and biodata.
TIP: Protect your identity when online. Have a good antivirus program installed on your devices.
How to Survive Father’s Day Scams
- Secure all your payment methods while online by having a good antivirus software.
- Shop on legit and verified eCommerce sites only. Check suspicious websites on Scamadviser
- Do not respond to new promotional emails with extremely good deals. Too good deals are just that; too good to be true!
- BE CAREFUL with free Father's Day offers. They are the bait that gets you to click on what scammers want.
- DON’T CLICK on fake Father’s Day ads on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social site that promise gifts.
- Report to your credit card issuer or bank if you give your payment details to any suspicious site.
- Confirm with the sender if you get suspicious Father’s Day emails from people you know. Their email accounts may also be compromised.
Below is a video from the Better Business Bureau to help you avoid Father's Day Scams.
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