Memorial Day is about remembering those who have given their lives for USA for the ones they leave behind can remain free. It’s a time to honor the sacrifices made by those heroes. A day to reflect on a loved one who has passed away, and to do so in a manner reflective of the service they provided. This overwhelmingly good feeling of hearth and home, of family and of God and Country is another day for scammers seeking to take advantage of a lot of people. Of course with any holiday weekend, there are legitimate sales at local stores. It is, after all, the beginning of the summer season of school breaks and time for family vacations. It is these legitimate sales that scammers use to ‘cover’ for their true intents and that is to get your personal financial information. Right now, the anti-virus, anti-spam software creators at Symantec have reported a surge of spam that is being sent targeting those people searching for unbelievable deals available on the web.
The report states that these fake ‘deals’ are about clearance sales of vehicles. The link in these emails will redirect the user to a site that shows unbelievable deals. The eager shopper clicks on the car or truck they want and then enter their financial information into the provided boxes. Of course, that information is then used to steal the user’s identity and cause a great deal of trouble for the victim.
In addition to the clearance sales are being made on vehicles that don’t even exist, scammers are using emails that are selling drugs, medications and weight loss products. The deals are as unbelievable as the ones on the vehicles and the result is the same. The user enters payment information which ends up being used against them when their identity is stolen.
The watchdog site Scambook is where you can verify for yourself whether a deal is as it says it is. People who have been ripped off report the names and dates of the details of the scam that took them in. The fact that these scams target a holiday meant to honor heroes just shows how scummy they are.
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