The loss to consumers due to cyber crime in the US is expected to be over $16 billion this year.
This holiday season has seen a sharp increase in scam emails about shipping and mail-ordered merchandise. They claim things like a problem with your order, or delayed shipping, among other things. These emails are designed by AI to look exactly like the sites they are impersonating such as (but not only): USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, even PayPal and banks, but the links take you to their scam page which will also look exactly like the real thing.
These scammers know that you will be busy dealing with things and may catch you off your guard. It gets worse the closer we get to the holidays. They will even answer phone calls masquerading as the company they are impersonating.
Practice safer shopping:
- Never click a link that is offered in an email.
- Never cut and paste said link into your browser.
- Never call the phone number listed.
What to Do?
Go to the actual company site by typing the URL in the browser by hand and going to their your orders or contact us page. If there really is a problem, they will let you know. It takes a minute or two longer but will keep you safe.
We also recommend that instead of entering your credit card information to each website, you use a digital payment service such as PayPal, ApplePay, GooglePay or AmazonPay. This is because each website that holds your personal information doubles the risk of having it disclosed to cyber criminals, and you never really know how good their security is.
Have an enjoyable holiday filled with love, and be safe,
Vicky and Beth
Your UUFE Info Tech Team