Pre-holiday spam
Easy money
In the run-up to Christmas and New Year, scam е-mails mentioning easy pickings, lottery winnings, and other cash surprises are especially popular. All the more so given how simple it is to adapt existing schemes simply by mentioning the holiday in the subject line.
For example, one scam е-mail with the subject line “Xsmas gift” or “Xmas offer” talks about a “special donation” and provides a contact е-mail address for more information. Recipients who respond are lured into parting with a sum of money through social engineering.
Scammers offering “Xmas gifts” are very persistent
Another Christmas-related scheme aims to steal cryptocurrency. Scammers offer the chance to earn some bitcoins before the holiday period using “secret” software that can be downloaded via a link:
After downloading and running the program (the malware Hoax.Win32.Agent.gen.), the user is prompted to enter their cryptowallet credentials and wait until the request is executed.
Next, the user is informed that the cryptocurrency will be credited to their account immediately after they pay a transfer fee. The result is predictable — the user earns no bitcoins, and the “fee” goes to the scammers.
Extortion
Standard extortion schemes are also adapted for the festive period. For instance, the authors of this е-mail threaten to spoil the victim’s Christma ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
