By John Wilson, Senior Fellow, Threat Research at Fortra
1. Holiday Job Scams
The holiday season often brings a surge in temporary and remote job listings — and scammers are taking advantage of those looking for work. They pose as recruiters from well-known companies, send fake job offers to collect personal information, and demand upfront payments for “training” or “equipment.” They are even incorporating AI, making scams increasingly difficult to identify.
Before accepting any offer, verify the opportunity directly through the company’s official website or HR department. Legitimate employers will never ask for money or sensitive data during the hiring process. A few red flags: No company is going to hire you without an interview no matter how qualified you may be for the position. Scam job offerings almost always mention a minimum age requirement. This is so they have an excuse to ask for a photo of your ID. Finally, look to see who sent the message and who it was sent to. A lot of scam texts and emails will come from a strange phone number or email address, and many scammers will send messages to numerous recipients at the same time.
2. Gift Card Scams
The use of gift cards during the holiday season ramps up, and so does the attackers’ exploitation of them. Attackers can send their victims emails claiming they’ve won a gift card or received a gift. These may even be customized with AI generated images and tend to impersonate popular retailer brands to increase the authenticity of the fake gift card. But to claim it, they’ll say you must give your personal information or pay a shipping fee first.
If you receive a message like this, remember that legitimate companies will not ask you for payment to receive a gift card.
3. Fake Shopping Websites and Ads
Fake websites, such as phishing sites or phishing, remain a top threat for consumers conducting their holiday shopping online. Cybercriminals often create ‘eCommerce’ websites optimized for search engines and offer goods at below market prices to entice consumers into making a purchase. These sites may even be shared on social media platforms and circulate around as fake enticing ads to lure as many victims as possible.
When you hand over your payment details by shopping on these sites, the hackers record them and use them to commit identity fraud and fraudulent purchases later.
4. Always Use Secure Payment Methods
Never use a debit card online and avoid other payment methods that don’t provide adequate fraud protection when conducting your holiday online shopping. Credit cards tend to be a safer option against fraud, and services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay are generally more secure than entering your card information directly. Some credit card issuers enable you to create virtual card numbers to use on a single website. This is helpful because the card number can’t be used by a scammer to clone your credit card or to purchase from some other website.
This could protect you from fraud, impersonation, and reduce the likelihood of an attacker compromising your bank accounts.
5. Travel Scams
The holiday season is the season of travel, and scammers are always on the lookout for ways to take advantage of these vacation plans. Victims can receive phishing emails offering discounted travel deals and offers that impersonate legitimate online travel service providers. Booking travel plans through these fake malicious sites can compromise your sensitive personal information and even lead to financial losses.
Always verify the legitimacy of websites by navigating to the service provider’s website directly instead of using suspicious links embedded in emails, use secure payment methods to protect your personal information, and remember – if a deal is too good to be true, it likely is.
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This entry was posted on November 7, 2025 at 9:25 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Fortra. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Guest Post: Cybersecurity Tips for the Holidays From Fortra
By John Wilson, Senior Fellow, Threat Research at Fortra
1. Holiday Job Scams
The holiday season often brings a surge in temporary and remote job listings — and scammers are taking advantage of those looking for work. They pose as recruiters from well-known companies, send fake job offers to collect personal information, and demand upfront payments for “training” or “equipment.” They are even incorporating AI, making scams increasingly difficult to identify.
Before accepting any offer, verify the opportunity directly through the company’s official website or HR department. Legitimate employers will never ask for money or sensitive data during the hiring process. A few red flags: No company is going to hire you without an interview no matter how qualified you may be for the position. Scam job offerings almost always mention a minimum age requirement. This is so they have an excuse to ask for a photo of your ID. Finally, look to see who sent the message and who it was sent to. A lot of scam texts and emails will come from a strange phone number or email address, and many scammers will send messages to numerous recipients at the same time.
2. Gift Card Scams
The use of gift cards during the holiday season ramps up, and so does the attackers’ exploitation of them. Attackers can send their victims emails claiming they’ve won a gift card or received a gift. These may even be customized with AI generated images and tend to impersonate popular retailer brands to increase the authenticity of the fake gift card. But to claim it, they’ll say you must give your personal information or pay a shipping fee first.
If you receive a message like this, remember that legitimate companies will not ask you for payment to receive a gift card.
3. Fake Shopping Websites and Ads
Fake websites, such as phishing sites or phishing, remain a top threat for consumers conducting their holiday shopping online. Cybercriminals often create ‘eCommerce’ websites optimized for search engines and offer goods at below market prices to entice consumers into making a purchase. These sites may even be shared on social media platforms and circulate around as fake enticing ads to lure as many victims as possible.
When you hand over your payment details by shopping on these sites, the hackers record them and use them to commit identity fraud and fraudulent purchases later.
4. Always Use Secure Payment Methods
Never use a debit card online and avoid other payment methods that don’t provide adequate fraud protection when conducting your holiday online shopping. Credit cards tend to be a safer option against fraud, and services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay are generally more secure than entering your card information directly. Some credit card issuers enable you to create virtual card numbers to use on a single website. This is helpful because the card number can’t be used by a scammer to clone your credit card or to purchase from some other website.
This could protect you from fraud, impersonation, and reduce the likelihood of an attacker compromising your bank accounts.
5. Travel Scams
The holiday season is the season of travel, and scammers are always on the lookout for ways to take advantage of these vacation plans. Victims can receive phishing emails offering discounted travel deals and offers that impersonate legitimate online travel service providers. Booking travel plans through these fake malicious sites can compromise your sensitive personal information and even lead to financial losses.
Always verify the legitimacy of websites by navigating to the service provider’s website directly instead of using suspicious links embedded in emails, use secure payment methods to protect your personal information, and remember – if a deal is too good to be true, it likely is.
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This entry was posted on November 7, 2025 at 9:25 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Fortra. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.