Consumers are being warned to be extra wary online this festive season, with spammers hard at work generating Christmas-related spam to target unsuspecting consumers.
The Symantec Security Response Team has detected a number of Christmas-related spam doing the rounds including gift shopping offers, greeting cards and courier services. Many of them have Christmas-themed key words in the header to entice users to open emails. Examples of festive-themed headers include:
Subject: Merry Christmas
Subject: Delight a child with a personalised letter from Santa
Subject: Personalised Christmas Gifts for Everyone on your list
Subject: Surprise your child with a gift delivered straight from the North Pole
Subject: Photo Christmas Cards – Fast Shipping
Subject: Christmas e-Card from Online Banking Team
Symantec advises Internet users to follow best practices to avoid falling victim to spammers. Here are some basic tips:
- Do not click on suspicious links from emails.
- Check the URL of the website and make sure that it belongs to the brand.
- Type the domain name of your brand directly in your browser rather than following any link.
- Frequently update security software.
