The 12 scams of Christmas

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday under our belts, the 2013 holiday shopping season is officially in gear. It’s the time of year for finding great gift bargains, helping people in your community, traveling to visit family and friends, and more. Cyber criminals also love the holidays, and they’re poised with an arsenal of attacks, ready to spoil your holiday cheer.

You’re probably familiar with the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. That’s the song where the person ends up with 12 partridges in 12 pear trees by the time all is said and done, along with some random collection of maids-a-milking, lords-a-leaping, and drummers drumming, among other things. Well, McAfee compiled its own security-themed version called The 12 Scams of Christmas.

Here is a quick rundown of the 12 scams:

1. Not-So-Merry Mobile Apps
2. Holiday Mobile SMS Scams
3. Hot Holiday Gift Scams
4. Seasonal Travel Scams
5. Dangerous E-Seasons Greetings
6. Deceptive Online Games
7. Shipping Notifications Shams
8. Bogus Gift Cards
9. Holiday SMiShing
10. Romance Scams
11. Phony E-Tailers

Most of the scams listed by McAfee are not unique to the holidays per se. There are fake shipping notifications, malicious apps, shady deals, and phishing attacks on any given day. What makes the holidays unique is that there are so many more legitimate emails, text messages, deals, and bargains, and people are so aggressively looking for holiday-related deals, so the opportunity for cyber criminals is exponentially greater…

Read the full article at CSOOnline.com: The 12 scams of Christmas.