The holiday season, synonymous with festivities and gift-giving, unfortunately also heralds a surge in scams, spam, and malware. As people indulge in buying stocking stuffers and decorating their homes, threat actors ramp up efforts to infiltrate email inboxes with phishing attacks and spam designed to extract personal information. Google has taken proactive measures to combat these threats, implementing new features that have resulted in a 35% reduction in scams reported by its 2.5 billion users.
Leveraging AI and a new large language model, Google has effectively identified and blocked 20% more spam than before. Here are the three types of email scams that Google has highlighted as being particularly prevalent this holiday season:
1. Invoice Scams: Scammers send fake invoices to victims, prompting them to call and dispute the charges.
The aim is to trick victims into paying these counterfeit fees. 2. Celebrity Scams: Scams linked to celebrities tend to grab attention.
Warning of prevalent holiday scams
These emails may claim to come directly from a celebrity or suggest that a famous person is endorsing a product, creating a “too good to be true” scenario to build trust and manipulate victims. 3.
Extortion Scams: This aggressive tactic involves sending emails with personal details of the victim, such as their home address or personal photos, sometimes accompanied by threats of harm or data exposure. To protect yourself, Google offers the following advice:
– Slow down and ignore any sense of urgency created by the scammer. – Verify the details of any suspicious email.
– Never send payment or personal information on the spot, as no legitimate company will demand these details immediately. – Mark suspicious emails as spam to help protect other users as well. Additionally, enhancing your security involves several layers:
– Be wary of unknown senders, unexpected attachments, poor grammar, and blank subject lines.
– Use updated antivirus software and identity theft protection programs to safeguard your devices and personal information. By staying informed and vigilant, you can better protect yourself against potential threats and cybercriminals during the holiday season.
