Warning: Online Shoppers Beware This Christmas

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Online shopping scams could become a major security threat in the weeks leading up to Christmas as consumers eagerly type in credit card numbers, click on discount coupons and participate in online promotions, say security experts. Instead of moneysaving deals, emailed coupons could lead recipients into “phishing” schemes where the consumer is redirected to a copycat site, whose real purpose is to siphon off the credit card information, passwords and other financial data, IBM Corp security executive Christopher Rouland warned.

IBM’s research department discovered 867,000 scams in the third quarter of the year alone and that’s believed to be just a small number. IBM is urging online shoppers not to click on links within emails that appear to come from an online retailer. Instead, they urge people to go to the retailer’s site, navigate to special coupons and promotions and see if it’s there. Brian Trombley of the computer security firm McAfee Inc said, “The scammers are getting more and more sophisticated. They are using better English and getting better at copying real sites and making their site look like the real thing. The source of this article, Agencies,San Francisco.

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