(CHICAGO) — As the holiday season comes to a close and decorations are stored away, many of us find ourselves eagerly awaiting spring break. However, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns that scammers are also eagerly anticipating this time of year, targeting consumers with reward scams.
During the holiday season, you likely spent a significant amount on gifts and accumulated reward points from various retailers. Unfortunately, cyber-crooks are now exploiting this by sending fraudulent emails and texts that mimic messages from major retailers, inviting you to redeem your hard-earned reward points.
Stay vigilant and protect yourself from these scams by verifying the authenticity of any reward-related communications you receive. For more information and tips on how to stay safe, visit the BBB website.
Be careful. “There are very few of us who have not gotten reward scam emails in their inbox or text messages with urgent appeals to use it or lose it,” says Steve J. Bernas, BBB president and CEO. “The crooks are trying to get your credit card info, name, address, and store account number.”
This is yet another phishing scam. You receive an unsolicited email or text message that appears to be from a major retailer. Scammers frequently use retailers like Amazon, Kohls, and Costco, but any company with a rewards program can be spoofed. The subject line often reads, “You have a new reward to claim” or something similar.
Bernas notes, “Technology is at play here. It is shockingly easy to create legitimate-looking messages. And people are tricked into opening them.”
Fraudsters copy the company’s logo and colors and spoof a link to the company’s website. These con artists play on your emotions and your curiosity, and they are hoping that you will click the link. When you click, it can take you to a phishing landing page the scammers created (if you look closely, you will notice the URL is wrong) and steal your credentials. The criminals could also install a backdoor, a type of malware that will give them full access to your computer. Do. Not. Click. Delete!
BBB Tips:
• Do not click on links or download attachments from unknown emails. These may be a scam, and they will try to download malware onto your computer and/or steal your personal information.
• Got an unsolicited email? Please do not take it at face value. Scammers frequently send out mass emails that include little personal information. If the email does not address you by name or include any other identifying personal information, be cautious.
• Links can be spoofed. A link might say “kohls.com” but in reality, the link will take you to something totally different like “badsite.malware4u.com.” Not good. Before you click ANY links, please hover your mouse over them to see the true URL (uniform resource locator) and where the link will take you.
• Go directly to the source. Even if you frequently get emails from your favorite shopping sites, letting you know about a huge sale. Should you click these? No. Instead of clicking the link, go directly to the source whenever possible. For example, type in “amazon.com” and go to your account; do not click the link in any emails that pop into your inbox.
For more information
If you’ve encountered a scam, report it to BBB Scam Tracker. Your report exposes scammer tactics. Sign up for BBB’s free consumer newsletter, BBB Edge, at BBB.org/ChicagoBuzz. Visit BBB.org or follow us @ChicagoBBB on social media.
