Check Point Uncovers Valentine’s Day Cyber Scams

In late January, Check Point Research (CPR) uncovered a phishing email campaign targeting consumers with a fraudulent offer to win a "Valentine basket." The emails, which featured the subject line "You won … Valentine basket," were nearly identical, differing only in the store name. Each message encouraged recipients to answer a few questions in exchange for a basket, displaying the same enticing image across all emails.

The attackers attempted to lure victims into clicking malicious links, falsely promising the reward. These links have also been flagged as phishing by many security engines and were likely designed to steal personal and payment information

Unloving A Phishing Attempt

• Avoid Engaging with the Email: Never interact with a suspected phishing message. If an email contains an unfamiliar link, unexpected attachment, or requests a response, refrain from clicking, opening, or replying.

• Remove the Email After Reporting: Once reported, delete the suspicious email from your inbox to prevent accidental interaction in the future.

• Never share your credentials: Credential theft is a common goal of cyberattacks. Many people reuse the same usernames and passwords across many different accounts, so stealing the credentials for a single account is likely to give an attacker access to a number of the user’s online accounts. As a result, phishing attacks are designed to steal login credentials in various ways

• Beware of too good to be true buying offers: as they are really too good and not true… An 80% discount on a new iPhone or an item of jewelry is usually not a reliable or trustworthy purchase opportunity.

• Always verify you are ordering online from an authentic source: Do NOT click on promotional links in emails, instead Google your desired retailer and click the link from the Google results page.