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What You Do Now To Protect Your Child From Cyberbullying

By Alex Merton-McCann

I can’t tell you how many times over my 25 years of parenting that I’ve just wanted to wrap my boys in cotton wool and protect them from all the tricky stuff that life can throw our way. But unfortunately, that’s never been an option. Whether it’s been friendship issues in the playground, dramas on a messaging app or dealing with broken hearts, it can be really hard watching your kids experience hardship. 

Get Ahead Of The Problem! 

But one thing I have learnt from years of mothering is that if you spend some time getting ahead of a potentially challenging situation then you’ve got a much better chance of minimising it. Or better still preventing it – and this absolutely applies to cyberbullying. 

Is Cyberbullying A Big Problem for Aussie Kids? 

In early 2022, McAfee interviewed over 15,000 parents and 12,000 children worldwide with the goal of finding out how families both connect and protect themselves online. And what they found was astounding: Aussie kids reported the 2nd highest rate of cyberbullying (24%) out of the 10 countries surveyed. American children reported the highest rate. The average for all countries was 17%. Check out my post here with all the details.  

So, to dig deeper into this issue of cyberbullying, McAfee commissioned additional research in August this year to better understand what cyberbullying looks like, where it happens and who the perpetrators are. And the biggest takeaways for Aussie kids: 

  • Name calling is the most common form of cyberbullying 
  • Most cyberbullying happens on social media 
  • Aussie kids have the highest rate of cyberbullying on Snapchat 
  • 56% of Aussie kids know the perpetrator 

You can check out my post here with all the details.  

How To Avoid Your Kids Becoming a Statistic 

So, if you need to grab a cuppa and digest all this, I don’t blame you! It’s a lot. But, as mentioned before, I honestly believe that if we get ahead of the challenges, we have a greater chance of minimising the fall out. So, without further ado – here is my advice on what you can do NOW to minimise the chance of your kids being involved in cyberbullying – either as the victim or the perpetrator. 

1. Talk About Online Respect and Kindness As Soon As They Start Using Devices 

As soon as your kids move on from just watching movies and playing games on their devices, you need to talk about the importance of ‘being nice’ online. A more natural way around this is to extend your parenting advice to include the online world too. For example:  

  • ‘Remember how important it is to be kind to everyone when you are in the playground at kindy – as well as when you are online.’  
  • ‘Always say please and thank you – to your friends in-person and online too.’ 

And don’t forget the importance of role-modelling this too! 

2. Check Your Family Communication Culture 

One of the best things you can do is to create a family culture where honest and genuine two-way communication is a feature of family life. If your kids know they can confide in you, that nothing is off-limits and that you won’t overreact – then they are more likely to open-up about a problem before it becomes overwhelming and ‘unsolvable’. 

3. Understand Your Child’s World 

Parents who have a comprehensive understanding of their child’s life will be better able to detect when things aren’t going well. Knowing who your kid’s friends are, who they ‘sit with’ at lunchtime, their favourite music and their boyfriend or girlfriend needs to be a big priority. I also encourage parents to establish relationships with teachers or mentors at school so they can keep their ‘ear to the ground’. When a child’s behaviour and interests change, it can often mean that all isn’t well and that some detective work is required! 

4. Ensure Your Kids Understand What Bullying Is 

Cyberbullying can have a variety of definitions which can often cause confusion. In McAfee’s research, they used the definition by StopBullying.Gov: 

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behaviour.  

McAfee’s definition was then expanded to include specific acts of cyberbullying, such as: 

  • flaming – online arguments that can include personal attacks 
  • outing – disclosing someone’s sexual orientation without their consent  
  • trolling – intentionally trying to instigate a conflict through antagonistic messages 
  • doxing – publishing private or identifying information without someone’s consent  

Along with other acts, including:  

  • name calling  
  • spreading false rumours  
  • sending explicit images or messages  
  • cyberstalking, harassment, and physical threats  
  • exclusion from group chats and conversation 

Now, I appreciate that reading your children several minutes of definitions may not be very helpful. So, instead, keep it simple and amend the above to make it age appropriate for your kids. You may choose to say that it is when someone is being mean online, if your kids are very young. But if you have tweens in the house then I think more details would be important. The goal here is for them to understand at what point they shouldn’t accept bad behaviour online.  

5. Give Them An Action Plan For When They Experience Bad Behaviour Online  

As soon as your kids are actively engaged with others online, they need to have an action plan in case things go awry – probably around 6-7 years of age. In fact, I consider this to be a golden time in parenting – a time when your kids are receptive to your advice and often keen to please. So, this is when you need to help them establish good practices and habits that will hold them in good stead. This is what I would instil: 

  • If someone makes you feel upset when you are online, you need to tell a trusted adult 
  • Save a copy of the interaction, perhaps take a screenshot. Ensure they know how to do this. 
  • Block the sender or delete them from your contacts. 
  • Report the behaviour to the school, the police or the eSafety Commissioner’s Office, if necessary 

Now, of course not all bad behaviour online will be defined as cyberbullying – remember we all see the world through different lenses. However, what’s important here is that your kids ask for help when they experience something that makes them feel uncomfortable. And while we all hope that it is unlikely that you will need to escalate any interactions to the police or the eSafety Commissioner, knowing what the course of action is in case things get out of hand is essential.  

6. Make Empathy A Priority  

There is so much research on the connection between the lack of empathy and bullying behaviours. In her book Unselfie, Parenting expert Michelle Borba explains that we are in the midst of an ‘empathy crisis’ which is contributing to bullying behaviour. She believes teens today are far less empathetic than they were 30 years ago. Teaching your kids to ‘walk in someone’s else’s shoes’, consider how others feel and have a focus on compassion will go a long way to developing an empathetic lens. You can read more about helping develop empathy in your child here.  

There is no doubt that cyberbullying is one of the biggest parenting challenges of our generation and, unfortunately, it isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. So, get ahead of the problem – teach your kids about kindness from a young age, create an open family communication culture, make empathy a priority in your family and give them an action plan in case things get tricky online. But most importantly, always listen to your gut. If you think things aren’t right with your kids – if they don’t want to go to school, seem emotional after using their devices or their behaviour suddenly changes, then do some digging. My gut has never let me down!     

Take care 

Alex  

The post What You Do Now To Protect Your Child From Cyberbullying appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Doxxing, The Internet, and How You Can Lock Down Your Data

By McAfee

Have you ever been online and replied to a comment or post? Maybe it was on Reddit or on an influencer’s Instagram. Did other people reply to you, and were any of them unexpectedly hostile? When you’re online, a little hostility is sadly par for the course, but most people brush it off and move on to enjoy other aspects of life online. But what would you do if that unpleasant interaction went much farther than was reasonable? What if one day you discovered the most important parts of your identity had been maliciously and intentionally revealed online? Let’s talk about doxxing – what it is and how you can avoid becoming a victim of this kind of harassment. 

What is Doxxing?

Doxxing, derived from the hacker term “dropping docs”, is internet slang for revealing someone’s identity online for the purposes of harassing them. It usually goes way beyond simply revealing someone’s email address or name and may involve personal information like a home address or workplace, SSN, financial information, phone number, pictures, texts, IP address, and other important details. The tricky thing about doxxing is that aspects of it may not be a crime, depending on what you’ve made publicly available online. However, the context in which doxxing occurs is crucial. Often it’s the first step taken to incite more severe harassment. For instance, the doxxer may not plan on taking action against their target but instead hope that someone else does. When put up against a recent Pew Research report showing that 41% of U.S. web users experience harassment in some form, it’s clear that Doxxing is a dangerous trend online. 

Why is Doxxing so Destructive?

Doxxing is a problem that’s grown in scope simply because there’s so much more data about us being kept online. Third-party services, called data brokers, capture our account info, the sites we visit, how long we spent on them, and other kinds of metadata to create profiles they then resell to advertisers. If someone gets access to these troves of data, they can reveal extremely damaging information about an individual, or data that allows a person to be damaged. For instance, with a phone number and a current address, some criminals were able to call in SWAT teams on innocent individuals. Political dissidents are often doxxed by the governments their protesting against. And on a lighter note, the adult website Ashley Madison, which promotes extramarital affairs, had their members’ data leaked online, to the embarrassment of a few public figures. 

What to Do if You’re Doxxed

The response should be very similar to the one you’d take if your wallet was stolen. Move fast, stem the loss, and begin remediation as soon as possible. Here are some broad steps that can be taken. 

  • If you’ve been affected through social media, report it and get your info removed. Depending on the severity of intent, you may want to contact local law enforcement if real-world harassment is expected to result. 
  • Revealed personal data is easily transmittable over the internet. Set Google alerts to see if further exposure is happening online. 
  • Were financial accounts or your social security numbers revealed? Immediately change your passwords and watch for activity suggesting identity theft. A credit freeze or fraud alert may be necessary to prevent someone from opening an account in your name.  

Protect Yourself From Being Doxxed

Of course, not being doxxed in the first place is the ultimate goal of a proactive online protection plan.  Here’s what we recommend: 

Use identity theft protection 

Identity theft protection services help protect your data, monitor your online accounts like emails, SSNs, and more. In addition to online monitoring, they should also offer insurance and even theft remediation if the worst should occur. 

Share with caution 

Before you tag your location, friends, or workplace in a photo think about who has access to this information. What’s gained or lost by sharing all that info? Also, security questions for your accounts should not use the name of your pet or your first-born child if you have posted those on Facebook. 

 Use a VPN if you’re on Wi-Fi 

Public Wi-Fi networks at coffee shops and airports may not be secure against hackers and snooping. That’s why we recommend using a VPN whenever you’re connected online. This powerful tool hides your activity and location whenever you’re online on an unsecured network. 

Go ahead, Google yourself once in a while 

Googling yourself is a great way to see if anyone is using your online identity in bad ways.  

Adjust your privacy settings 

Social networks allow you to control who can see your data. Usually, with a few clicks, you can restrict what you show online to a great degree. For instance,  makes your payments viewable to other users as a default, but can easily be changed to hide them from the public. 

Protect your passwords 

Using long, complex, unique passwords for every account is convenient and maybe the best way to prevent your information from being stolen. Yes, we said convenient because with a password manager you only need to remember one key to create and manage much longer ones for all your most important accounts. 

Seize the Day Without Worrying About Doxxing

The reality is that the more we live online, the more our identities will too.  This does not mean we need to live a restricted life online. In fact, using comprehensive online protection, which features most of the tools above, we can remain free to enjoy life on our terms. Doxxing is something to be aware of, but with great protection, it’s far from anything we need to be worried about as we make the most of our lives online. 

The post Doxxing, The Internet, and How You Can Lock Down Your Data appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Phony Valentines: Online Dating Scams and How to Spot Them

By McAfee

For years now, the popularity of online dating has been on the rise—and so have the number of online romance scams that leave people with broken hearts and empty wallets. 

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the reported costs of online romance scams jumped 50% from 2019 to 2020, to the tune of $304 million. And that’s not entirely because 2020 was a pandemic year. From 2016 to 2020, the volume of reported cases tripled, while reported losses nearly quadrupled. Over that period, online romance scams are not only becoming more common, but they’re also becoming more costly.

 

How do online dating and romance scams get started? 

Dating and romance scams aren’t limited to online dating apps and sites, they’ll happen on social media and in online games as well. However, the FTC reports that the scam usually starts the same way, typically through an unexpected friend request or a message that comes out of the blue.  

With that initial introduction made, a chat begins, and a friendship (or more) blossoms from there. Along the way, the scammer will often rely on a mix of somewhat exotic yet believable storytelling to lure the victim in, often involving their job and where they’re working. Reports say that scammers will talk of being workers on an offshore oil rig, members of the military stationed overseas, doctors working with an international organization, or working in the sort of jobs that would prevent them from otherwise easily meeting up in person. 

With the phony relationship established, the scammer starts asking for money. The FTC reports that they’ll ask for money for several bogus reasons, usually revolving around some sort of hardship where they need a “little help” so that they can pay: 

  • For a plane ticket or other travel expenses. 
  • For medical expenses. 
  • Customs fees to retrieve something. 
  • Gambling debts. 
  • A visa or other official travel documents. 

The list goes on, yet that’s the general gist. Scammers often employ a story with an intriguing complication that seems just reasonable enough, one where the romance scammer makes it sound like they could really use the victim’s financial help. 

Common types of online dating scams 

People who have filed fraud reports say they’ve paid their scammer in a few typical ways.  

One is by wiring money, often through a wire transfer company. The benefit of this route, for the scammer anyway, is that this is as good as forking over cash. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. The victim lacks the protections they have with other payment forms, such as a credit card that allows the holder to cancel or contest a charge. 

Another way is through gift cards. Scammers of all stripes, not just romance scammers, like these because they effectively work like cash, whether it’s a gift card for a major online retailer or a chain of brick-and-mortar stores. Like a wire transfer, once that gift card is handed over, the money on it is highly difficult to recover, if at all. 

One more common payment is through reloadable debit cards. A scammer may make an initial request for such a card and then make several follow-on requests to load it up again.  

In all, a romance scammer will typically look for the easiest payment method that’s the most difficult to contest or reimburse, leaving the victim in a financial lurch once the scam ends. 

How Do You Avoid Getting Tangled Up in an Online Dating or Romance Scam? 

When it comes to meeting new people online, the FTC suggests the following: 

  • Never send money or gifts to someone you haven’t met in person—even if they send you money first. 
  • Talk to someone you trust about this new love interest. It can be easy to miss things that don’t add up. So pay attention if your friends or family are concerned. 
  • Take the relationship slowly. Ask questions and look for inconsistent answers. 
  • Try a reverse-image search of any profile pictures the person uses. If they’re associated with another name or with details that don’t match up, it’s a scam. 

Scammers, although arguably heartless, are still human. They make mistakes. The stories they concoct are just that. Stories. They may jumble their details, get their times and dates all wrong, or simply get caught in an apparent lie. Also, keep in mind that some scammers may be working with several victims at once, which is yet another opportunity for them to get confused and slip up. 

Protecting Yourself Further From Scams on Your Social Media Accounts 

As mentioned above, some romance scammers troll social media and reach out through a direct message or friend request. With that, there are three things you can do to cut down your chances of getting caught up with a scammer: 

1. Go private

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting, which can help protect your privacy and give a romance scammer less information to exploit. 

2. Say “no” to strangers bearing friend requests

Be critical of the invitations you receive. Out-and-out strangers could be more than a romance scammer, they could be a fake account designed to gather information on users for purposes of cybercrime, or they can be an account designed to spread false information. There are plenty of them too. In fact, in Q3 of 2021 alone, Facebook took action on 1.8 billion fake accounts. Reject such requests. 

3. Protect yourself and your devices

Security software can protect you from clicking on malicious links that a scammer may send you online, while also steering you clear of other threats like viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks in general. It can look out for your personal information as well, by protecting your privacy and monitoring your email, SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and other info that a scammer or identity thief may put to use. With identity theft a rather commonplace occurrence today, security software is really a must. 

Put an End to it 

If you suspect that you’re being scammed, put an end to the relationship and report it, as difficult as that may feel. 

Notify the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov for support and next steps to help you recover financially as much as possible. Likewise, notify the social media site, app, or service where the scam occurred as well. In some cases, you may want to file a police report, which we cover in our broader article on identity theft and fraud 

If you sent funds via a gift card, the FTC suggests filing a claim with the company as soon as possible. They offer further advice on filing a claim here, along with a list of contact numbers for gift card brands that scammers commonly use.  

Lastly, go easy on yourself. If you find yourself a victim of online dating or romance fraud, know that you won’t be the first or last person to be taken advantage of this way. By reporting your case, you in fact may help others from falling victim too. 

The post Phony Valentines: Online Dating Scams and How to Spot Them appeared first on McAfee Blog.

New tech for the holidays? Watch out for these tech support scams.

By McAfee

We all know the frustration. A new piece of tech isn’t working the way it should. Or maybe setting it up is simply turning into a royal pain. Grrr, right? Just make sure that when you go on the hunt for some help, you don’t let a tech support scam get the better of you.  

Like so many scams out there, tech support scams play on people’s emotions. Specifically, the frustration you feel when things don’t work right. You want that problem fixed right now. So much so that you may not pay close enough attention to that tech support link you found in a search or came across in an ad. Tech support that looks legitimate but isn’t. 

Tech support scams make good money for bad actors. In fact, the larger tech support scam operations organize and run themselves like a business, with call centers, marketing teams, finance groups, and so forth—and can rack up some serious profits to boot. 

They make their money in several ways. Sometimes they’ll charge large fees to fix a non-existent problem. Other times, they’ll install information-stealing malware under the guise of software that’s supposed to correct an issue. In some cases, they’ll ask for remote access to your computer to perform a diagnosis but access your computer to steal information instead. 

Fortunately, these scams are rather easy to spot. And avoid. If you know what to look for.  

What do tech support scams look like? 

Let’s start with a quick overview of tech support scams. They tend to work in two primary ways.  

First, there are the scams that actively track you down. 

This could be a phone call that comes from someone posing as a rep from “Microsoft” or “Apple.” The scammer on the other end of the line will tell you that there’s something wrong with your computer or device. Something urgently wrong. And then offers a bogus solution to the bogus problem, often at a high cost. Similarly, they may reach you by way of a pop-up ad. Again telling you that your computer or device is in need of urgent repair. These can find you a few different ways: 

  • By clicking on links from unsolicited emails. 
  • From pop-up ads from risky sites. 
  • Via pop-ups from otherwise legitimate sites that have had malicious ads injected. 
  • By way of spammy phone calls made directly to you, whether by robocall or a live operator. 

Second, there are the scams that lie in wait.  

These are phony services and sites that pose as legitimate tech support but are anything but. They’ll place search ads, post other ads in social media, and so forth, ready for you to look up and get in touch with when you have a problem that you need fixed. Examples include: 

  • Online classified ads, forum posts, and blog sites. 
  • Ads on Social media sites such as Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, and Tumblr. 
  • Search results—scammers place paid search ads too! 

Tech support scams target everyone—not just the elderly 

While tech support scammers can and do prey on older computer users, they’re not the only ones. An apparent lack of computer savviness certainly makes older users an attractive target, yet it also seems that an apparent overconfidence in one’s savviness makes younger victims susceptible to tech support scams too. Turns out that the growing majority of victims worldwide are between 18 and 35 years old, a group that has known the internet for most, if not all, of their lives. That’s according to research from Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, which found the 1 in 10 of people between the ages of 18 and 35 who encountered a tech support scam fell for it and lost money.  

Whatever the age group, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says that the reported losses in the U.S. are into the millions, which of course does not account for the assumedly millions more that do not go reported.  

How to spot and avoid tech support scams 

  • With regards to ads and search results, keep an eye open for typos, awkward language, or poor design and logos that looks like they could be a knockoff of a trusted brand. Check out our blog article that offers a field guide of what these ads and search results look like. 
  • Don’t fall for the call. If someone calls you with an offer of “tech support.” Chances are, it’s a scam. And if they ask for payment in gift cards or cryptocurrency like bitcoin, it’s absolutely a scam. Just hang up. 
  • Note that the big tech companies like Apple and Microsoft will not call you with offers of tech support or an alert that “something is wrong with your computer.” Such calls come from imposters. Moreover, in many cases, the company will offer free support as part of your purchase or subscription that you can get on your own when you need it. (For example, that’s the case with our products.) 
  • Don’t click on any links or call any numbers that suddenly appear on your screen and warn you of a computer problem. Again, this a likely sign of an attempted scam. Often, this will happen while browsing. Simply close your browser and open a fresh browser window to clear the ad or link. 
  • Go to the source. Contact the company directly for support, manually type their address into your browser or call the number that came with the packaging or purchase. Don’t search. This will help you avoid imposters that choke up search results with bogus ads. 
  • Protect your browsing. Use a safe browsing extension that can spot malicious sites and help prevent you clicking on them by mistake. Comprehensive online protection software will offer protect your browsing, in addition to protection from malware and viruses. 

Lastly, a good piece of general advice is to keep your devices and apps up to date. Regular updates often include security fixes and improvements that can help keep scammers and hackers at bay. You can set your devices and apps to download them automatically. And if you need to get an update or download it on your own, get it from the company’s official website. Stay away from third-party sites that may host malware. 

What to do if you think you’ve been scammed: 

1. Change your passwords. 

This will provide protection if the scammer was able to access your account passwords in some form. While this can be a big task, it’s a vital one. A password manager that’s part of comprehensive online protection can make it much easier. 

2. Run a malware and virus scan right away. 

Delete files or apps that the software says is an issue. Do the same for other devices on your network too. Experienced and determined scammers can infect them as well simply by gaining access to one device on your network. 

3. Stop payment. 

Contact your bank, credit card company, online payment platform, or wire transfer service immediately to reverse the charges. File a fraud complaint as well. The sooner you act, the better chance you have of recovering some or all your money. (Note that this is a good reason to use credit cards for online purchases, as they afford extra protection that debit cards and other payment services do not.) 

4. Report the scam. 

In the U.S., you can contact https://www.ftc.gov/complaint, which reports the claim to thousands of law enforcement agencies. While they cannot resolve your individual issue, your report can help with broader investigations and build a case against scammers—which can make the internet safer for others. Their list of FAQs is particularly helpful too, answering important questions like “how do I get my money back?” 

Enjoy your stuff! 

Here’s to holiday tech that works. And to quick fixes when things don’t go as planned. In all, if you find yourself staring down a technical issue, go straight to the source for help as we’ve outlined above. As you can see, scammers have burrowed themselves alongside otherwise legitimate ads, search results, and forums online, ready to take advantage of you when you need to get things working right. 

Likewise, keep an eye and ear open for those scammers who’ll reach out to you, particularly this time of year when so many people are getting so many new devices. Realizing that legitimate tech support won’t call you out of the blue is a great place to start. In all, go with the pros you know—the ones you can reach at the companies you trust. 

The post New tech for the holidays? Watch out for these tech support scams. appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Social Engineering: Tis the Season for Tricky Hackers

By Lily Saleh

With the holidays on the horizon, spirits are high—and it’s those same high spirits that hackers want to exploit. ‘Tis the season for clever social engineering attacks that play on your emotions, designed to trick you into giving up personal info or access to your accounts.  

Social engineering attacks unfold much like a confidence scam. A crook takes advantage of someone’s trust, applies a little human psychology to further fool the victim, and then pulls off a theft. Online, a social engineering attack will likely involve a theft attempt of personal or account information that the crook can then use to make purchases, drain accounts, and so forth. 

Not at all in the holiday spirit, right? Let’s take a look at some of their top tricks so that you can spot and avoid them. 

As said, spirits can get high this time of year. There’s looking forward to gatherings with family and friends, the fun that comes along with hunting for that perfect gift, and the excitement of the holidays overall. And that’s what hackers count on—people getting caught up in the rush of the holidays, to the point where they may not look at emails, offers, shipping notices, and such with a critical eye. That’s how the scammers get their foot in the door. 

Some of their favored tricks can look a little like this: 

1. Special access to hard-to-get holiday gifts. 

What are the holidays without that trendy “must-get” gift item, the one that’s seemingly out of stock no matter where you look? Scammers are keen on these items as well and will prop up phony ads and storefronts that pretend to sell those items but really don’t. Instead, they’re just a shady way for them to steal your debit or credit card information—or to lift a few bucks out of your pocket in return for nothing. 

One way to keep from getting burned by one of these scams is to follow the old adage, “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” In this case, crooks are using feelings of scarcity and urgency to get you to bite. Here’s where you can take a moment before you click to do some research.  

  • How long has the company been around?  
  • Are there reviews of this company?  
  • Do you have friends who’ve shopped with them before (and had a good experience)?  
  • What is their listing with the Better Business Bureau (and do they even have a listing)? 

Answers to these questions can separate the good businesses from the bogus ones. 

2. Gift card and coupon scams. 

Like the above, crooks will create a sense of urgency about a hot holiday item or limited time offer. The twist comes when they request payment via a gift card rather than by credit or debit card or other legitimate online payment methods. This request is highly deliberate because gift cards are much like cash. Once the money on the card is spent, it’s gone, and these cards do not offer the same protections that come with other payment methods. 

You can avoid this one easily. If anyone asks you to use a gift card as payment, it’s a scam. Gift cards are for gifts, not payment, says the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If you come across such a scam, you can report it to the FTC as well. 

3. Charity scams. 

Donating to a charity in someone else’s name is often a popular gift. Much the same, giving a donation to a worthy cause feels particularly good this time of year. Once again, scammers will take advantage of these good intentions by propping up phony charities designed to do nothing more than dupe you out of your money. Whether that’s a flat-out phony charity or one of the many other scam charities that have been known to pocket 90 cents of every dollar donated, this is the time of year to be on the lookout for both. 

The advice here is much the same as the advice for avoiding phony businesses and retailers. Do your homework. The Better Business Bureau maintains a listing of charities that can help you make good donation choices. Also, your state government’s charity officials can help you separate good charities from bad—and even file a report if you suspect a scam is at play. 

And once again, if a charity is asking for donations in the form of cash, gift cards, or wire transfer, just say no. That’s a surefire sign of a scam. 

4. Phony shipping notices. 

Scammers know you have packages in transit this holiday season, loaded with gifts that you’re eagerly tracking. Enter another classic scam—the phony shipping notice. The idea is that you already have so many packages on their way that you won’t think twice about opening an email with a “shipping notice” that comes in the form of an attachment. Of course, that attachment is a fake. And it’s loaded with malware.  

Too bad for scammers, though. This is another one you can steer clear of rather easily. Don’t open such attachments. Shipping companies will almost certainly send along notices and invoices in the body of an email, not as an attachment. If you have a question, you can always visit the shipper’s website and look up your tracking info there. Likewise, follow up with the customer service department of the company that you purchased the item from in the first place. 

Yet more ways you can protect yourself from holiday scams 

While the holidays are a special time for scammers too, there are several things you can do to up the level of your protection now and year ‘round. A quick list includes: 

  • Secure your devices and set your email spam filters. If you haven’t already, secure your devices with comprehensive online protection. With that in place, it can prevent you from mistakenly clicking risky links and downloads, blot out spam emails before they reach your inbox, and protect your accounts with strong, unique passwords. 
  • Protect your identity too. Another thing that comprehensive online protection should cover is you. With identity theft protection, you can protect yourself. It can monitor dozens of different types of personal info along with your email addresses and bank accounts—plus provide theft insurance and support from a licensed recovery pro if identity theft, unfortunately, happens to you. 
  • Beware of downloads you aren’t expecting. This is always good form because hackers love to spike downloads with malware designed to steal your personal information. Whether you get an unexpected attachment from a friend or business, follow up with them before opening it. If they say they didn’t send it, that’s a quick way to find out whether the attachment is legitimate or not. 
  • Keep an eye out for typos and poorly crafted messages. Scammers may know a thing or two about human nature, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the best writers, designers, and website developers. A common sign of a scam is an email, ad, message, or site that simply doesn’t look or read right. Granted, some scammers have gotten quite good at making their scams look legitimate, yet many still fail to clear that bar 

Keep the good feeling going this holiday season 

No doubt, the holidays have a feel all to themselves, one which hackers and crooks want to take advantage of. They’ll craft their tricks accordingly and try to twist the good times that roll around at the end of the year into scams that capitalize on your good intentions. As you can see, it’s not too tough to spot them for what they are if you pause and take a moment to scrutinize those emails, offers, and sales. And that’s the thing with the holidays. We can all feel pinched for time at some point or other during this stretch. Look out for their pressure tactics and seemingly clever ways of using social engineering to rip you off. That way, you can spend the holidays focusing on what’s important—your friends and family. 

The post Social Engineering: Tis the Season for Tricky Hackers appeared first on McAfee Blog.

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