Christmas Scam Warning Issued By Top IT Security Firms

November 19th, 2010 - 7:33 pm ICT by GD  

By Ranjan Bhaduri
90_03_36-christmas-decorations_webNov 19, (THAINDIAN NEWS) With the festive season approaching a lot of people are gearing up for shopping and buying gifts for themselves and their near and dear ones. After the advent and mass penetration of web the trend of online shopping has set in. The various on line sites and retail outlets also offer lucrative deals for buying their products around Christmas and other festive seasons. However, the malicious hackers also target the unsuspecting users during these times and top security firms including anti virus expert McAfee have warned that as many as 12 on line scams may be used by the hackers in and around Christmas.

The popularity of the Apple iPad has given the hackers the chance to dupe people into their traps using the popular Internet tablet as the bait. They may try to lure the shoppers to give out their credit card numbers. Some other hackers may try the emotional booby trap. They may pretend to be a friend or family member in distress and send request for urgent monetary needs. This type of scam is not new but its frequency goes up in the travel season.

A lot of outlets offer gift cards to the customers when they purchase anything before or during Christmas. This is also used by the hackers as an opportunity to rob the innocent shoppers who can not distinguish between a genuine Christmas offer and a fake one. The security firms have also issued warning on using the free WiFi service at hotels and airports as these places are targeted by hackers for getting access to others computers easily.

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