That email about your delivery could be fake: Phishing scammers increase their attack on online shoppers

That email about your delivery could be fake: Phishing scammers increase their attack on online shoppers

  • There’s been a huge rise in one particular form of phishing attack as cyber criminals look to exploit the combination of the holiday season shopping rush and the move to shopping online.
  • More online shopping means people are receiving more emails about the shipment and deliveries of their orders and cyber criminals are actively looking to take advantage of this with phishing emails impersonating internationally-known shipping companies.
  • Emails are designed to look like they come from shipping companies and retailers and feature messages claiming that there’s been a “delivery issue” or urging users to “track your shipment”.
  • In order to help protect against shipping email and other phishing attacks, users are urged to be suspicious of unexpected messages, particularly those which claim to require some sense of urgency as it’s a common psychological trick used by cyber criminals.
  • If users are concerned that a request could be legitimate, they shouldn’t follow links in the email, but they should visit the retailer or shipping company page directly.

– Danny Palmer | December 1, 2020