On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... hopefully something better than a virus (computer or otherwise). As the end of the year is fast approaching, it has not been without its fair share of data breaches, hacks, and even the return of digital piracy. As we enter December and fast approaching the most wonderful time of the year, hackers, cybercriminals, and online fraudsters are looking to end the year with a bang.

Email spoofing is a type of cyber threat where a cybercriminal sends emails to potential victims using fake sender addresses. Email spoofing works by forging a sender address to make it seem as though it’s coming from a legitimate person or company. Email spoofing is a tactic typically used by cybercriminals when carrying out phishing attacks to encourage their targeted victim to send them sensitive information.

Some of the different types of online scams you need to look out for are phishing scams, catfishing, job offer scams and online shopping scams. These online scams try to trick you into giving up your personal information, which scammers will use for malicious purposes. You need to learn how to recognize the different types of online scams to avoid falling for them.

For some, Black Friday conjures images of parasite-infected shoppers running amok in a mall. (Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 65% rating). For bargain hunters, it is a whirlwind of unbeatable deals and frenzied shopping sprees. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the year’s biggest days for American merchants. The hype has crossed borders.

US authorities have seized almost $9 million worth of cryptocurrency linked to a gang engaged in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams. The US Department of Justice has announced that the seized funds are connected to cryptocurrency wallet addresses alleged to be associated with a "pig butchering" gang that has claimed over 70 victims around the world. "Pig butchering" is one of the world's fastest-growing types of scams.

As the Thanksgiving season rapidly approaches, many look forward to the warmth of family gatherings, the aroma of roasted turkey, and the joy of gratitude. Yet, just as we prepare our homes and hearts for this festive season, cybercriminals are gearing up to unleash a different kind of feast—a cyber feast—rife with sophisticated scams targeting unsuspecting individuals and businesses alike.

No, it is not safe to accept Zelle payments from strangers because there is always the possibility of the stranger being a scammer. If the stranger is a scammer, then you could end up losing money by accepting a Zelle payment from them. It’s best to only use Zelle to send and receive payments from people you know and trust.

If increases in cyberattacks this year are any indication of what to expect in the next six weeks of holiday shopping, we should expect a massive uptick in holiday-related scams. The expectation by the National Retail Foundation for this year’s holiday shopping is that we will see 4% more spending than last year. This is a slight year over year decrease (as last year saw a 5.4% increase over 2021), but still indicates increases in spending.

To prevent becoming a victim of fraud, you should always keep your data in a secure location, protect your online accounts with strong passwords and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), sign up for a dark web monitoring service to receive dark web alerts, learn to spot phishing scams and more. Continue reading to learn more about fraud prevention tips you should be following.

Our friends at BlackBerry recently released an in-depth blog post on a campaign by threat actors targeting online payment businesses that discusses what happens from initial compromise to the skimmer scripts themselves. You can read their blog here. This blog is focused on what we found across the AT&T Cybersecurity customer base as we looked for the indicators of compromise (IOCs) identified in the BlackBerry blog and on the quick-follow up analysis we performed and provided to our customers.

Read also: US citizen goes to prison for purchasing stolen credentials, US imposed sanctions for money laundering for Ryuk ransomware group, and more.

"The 'Classiscam' scam-as-a-service operation has broadened its reach worldwide, targeting many more brands, countries, and industries, causing more significant financial damage than before,” touts Bleeping Computer. So just what is it?