Looking Out for Email Scams During the Holiday Season

Email scams are back in the news again this holiday season as many of them end up in company emails in the guise of real holiday shopping sites. CBS News recently reported on just how sophisticated these new email scams are in fooling companies. One of the reasons employees are so easily duped is because the emails look like real websites. Some people can’t tell the difference any more because so many of the emails use subtle changes that make them challenging to differentiate from actual online retailers.

The holiday email scams this year are more abundant and threatening than years past, and your business could be at risk. What things should your employees be on the lookout for in the way of holiday scams this year when online shopping while at work is likely common?

Giving Out an Email Scam Policy

All of your employees should meet to discuss what an email scam truly looks like in 2014 compared to what they looked like just a few years ago. While some of them with broken English or grammar mistakes are easy to scope out in the subject lines, they aren’t all that way any more. Be sure to check the web address from where it came from so it matches up with the online business’s real address. If you aren’t sure, just Google up the real business to see what their exact URL is.

All email scams change the URL with just one letter or character so anyone not paying attention is easily fooled.

You should also make sure your employees understand what a third-party site is. Phishing scams will entice you to click a link that takes you to a third-party site where they’ll ask you for personal information. This could be something as innocuous as a package tracking link, which is becoming a common email scam you need to know about.

Of course, any email that asks for your personal information (like a credit card number) should be deleted immediately. Real retail stores never ask for your credit card number over the net, even if many people automatically panic when they see an email alerting them to an error or problem.

As an example of how advanced and brazen this has become, CBS  reported that a new email is going around claiming they’ll send a personal letter from Santa Claus to your child in exchange for payment online.

You need good IT management and tools to help combat all of this now and into the new year. Just because the holidays bring more offenders, email scams are only going to become more insidious in the coming year and beyond. We can successfully help you manage these issues here at Global IP Networks.

Contact us so we show you our comprehensive solutions to help make your business run more efficiently.