The 12 Scams of Christmas - Slide 4

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Cybercrooks use social media to promote fake gift card offers with the goal of stealing consumers’ information and money, which is then sold to marketers or used for ID theft.

One recent Facebook scam offered a “free $1,000 Best Buy gift card” to the first 20,000 people who signed up for a Best Buy fan page, which was a look-a-like. To apply for the gift card, they had to provide personal information and take a series of quizzes.

Consumers would be wise to beware of the most common scams of the season before heading online to book travel and do holiday shopping. McAfee (NYSE: MFE) has revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the 12 most dangerous online scams that computer users should be cautious of this holiday season.

“Scams continue to be big business for cybercriminals who have their sights set on capitalizing on open hearts and wallets this holiday season,” said Dave Marcus, director of security research for McAfee Labs. “As people jump online to look for deals on gifts and travel, it’s important to recognize common scams to safeguard against theft during the busy season ahead.”

McAfee advises Internet users to follow these five tips to protect their computers and personal information:

Stick to well-established and trusted sites that include trust marks (icons or seals from third parties verifying that the sites are safe), user reviews and customer support. A reputable trust mark provider will have a live link attached to its trust mark icon, which will take visitors to a verification website of the trust mark provider.
Do not respond to offers that arrive in a spam e-mail, texts or instant messages.
Preview a link’s Web address before you click on it to make sure it is going to an established site. Never download or click anything from an unknown source.
Stay away from vendors that offer prices well below the norm. Don’t believe anything that’s too good to be true.
Make sure to use trusted Wi-Fi networks. Don’t check bank accounts or shop online if you’re not sure the network is safe.

The 12 Scams of Christmas - Slide 4

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