McAfee today revealed how cybercriminals are capitalizing on Canadian consumers’ risky travel booking habits. The findings show popular beach destinations around the world and cities in the U.S. generate the riskiest search results when people are hunting for vacation deals online.
Highlights of the survey include:
- Approximately one in eight Canadians (13%) have been scammed or nearly scammed when booking a vacation online
- 30% of travel-related scam victims reported that they lost between $1,000 and $3,000 as a result of the fraudulent activity
- Nearly one third (33%) of vacation scam victims were defrauded after spotting a deal that was too good to be true.
- A third (30%) of Canadians put their companies at risk of cyber-attacks by using their work devices while traveling and connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks
Top summer destinations hackers are targeting via potentially malicious sites:
- Palm Springs, California
- Male, Maldives
- Belize City, Belize
- Chicago, Illinois
- Cancun, Mexico
Canmore among most malicious destinations for U.S. travel searches
Canmore, AB is a popular travel destination for American tourists because of its proximity to scenic Banff National Park. It’s so popular in fact that Canmore made the U.S. top-5 list of most dangerous summer vacations for U.S. travellers searching for vacation deals online.
McAfee’s survey confirms that cybercriminals’ tactic of targeting vacation goers is paying off, with one in eight (13%) people reporting that they have been scammed or came very close to being scammed, when booking a vacation online. Bargain-hunting Canadians are most at risk, with nearly a third of vacation scam victims (33%) being defrauded after spotting a deal that was too good to be true.
McAfee’s tips for identifying authentic booking sites and safe surfing on holiday include:
Only access verified websites. Only click on websites that your security software has identified as being safe. For example McAfee WebAdvisorwill identify safe websites with a green check and will block malware and phishing sites if you accidentally click on a malicious link from your search results.
Use trusted platforms and verified payment methods when finalizing your bookings. Fraudsters may try to lure you away from a trusted platform with the promise of discounted rates. Remember to keep all your communications and bookings to trusted platforms, such as HomeAway.com; and verify the site before entering payment information. This will help protect you from phishing and other cyber fraud.
Utilize an identity theft solution. With all this personal data floating around online, it’s important that you protect your identity. Use an identity theft solution, such as McAfee Identity Theft Protection, to help protect personally identifiable information from identity theft and fraud.
Always connect with caution. If you have to conduct transactions on a public Wi-Fi connection use a virtual private network (VPN) like McAfee Safe Connectto help keep your connection secure.
TELUS Matches Rogers In Offering An $75 Data Plan…. With A Twist
Posted in Commentary with tags Telus on June 12, 2019 by itnerdEarlier today Rogers served up a 10GB for $75 “unlimited” plan that made news because of the fact that Canadian wireless consumers had never seen a plan like that before. In the article that I wrote, I said this:
Now the Rogers announcement should trigger similar announcements from Bell and Telus as the so called “big 3” tend to be in lockstep with each other rather than truly competing against each other. Thus any customer who is with the “big 3” will likely benefit from this. I expect to see that response come quickly. As in the next day or two.
Well, according to iPhone In Canada, TELUS is going to be offering a plan that is better than what Rogers offers:
A Telus spokesperson said in a statement, “We’re always making enhancements to our customer experience. Launching tomorrow, we have a promotional offer for new, renewing and existing BYOD customers who can get 10GB plus 5GB bonus data starting at $75 for BYOD on Canada’s largest and fastest network with the best customer service.”
Beyond your 15GB of LTE data, Telus says customers “will be charged our usual pay-per-use overage rate of $10/100MB.”
So this is a promotional offer. And this offer is serving up more data than Rogers is offering for the same price. And it’s aimed at BYOD customers. In my mind, this may be the better deal as it doesn’t appear to be throttled like Rogers offering is, and you get more data. Seeing as I am a TELUS customer, and I am in the range of paying that kind of money for my data, this is totally worth looking into for me. I suspect that many other TELUS customers may feel the same way. I’ll let you know what happens when I try to sign up for this plan.
That leaves Bell as the the only one of the “big 3” that doesn’t have a plan like this. One suspects that this will change tomorrow.
UPDATE: Just a quick clarification. The TELUS plan is a promotional plan that expires on July 2nd. The Rogers plan is part of their standard offering going forward. So in effect, TELUS is on matching or beating Rogers for a limited time. Another point is that TELUS is only offering the 5GB bonus for two years. Then presumably you drop back to the 10GB of data a month.
UPDATE #2: TELUS has updated their website with this time limited promotion. Interestingly there’s pricing for BYOD customers and customers on contract.
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