As the holiday season ramps up, online risks climb right along with it. Holiday scams are not limited to shady emails; many involve coordinated, technical attacks that capitalize on fast-paced seasonal shopping behaviors. Businesses rely heavily on secure networks this time of year, and having the proper IT support in place makes a measurable difference.
At Adept Networks, we’re seeing scammers use far more advanced methods than they did even a few years ago. They target cloud tools, payment workflows, and human behavior, sometimes all in the same attack chain. Recognizing these patterns and implementing strong controls is the most reliable way to reduce exposure.
The Anatomy of a Holiday Scam
Knowing what to look for is more than half the battle. Train your employees to watch out for these red flags and be extra vigilant during the holiday season.
1. Phishing and Smishing Disguised as Holiday Cheer
Attackers continue to rely on phishing, but the seasonal twist makes it harder to spot. Messages often appear to be shipping updates, year-end promotions, or donation requests, many of which link to cloned websites designed to harvest logins or install malware.
CISA reports a noticeable spike in brand spoofing during the holidays, and these emails often appear convincing enough to fool even tech-savvy users. Adept Networks recommends reviewing an email security protocol year-round, but doing so before the holiday season is essential.
Smishing has followed the same trend. A short text claiming a missed package delivery is often all a criminal needs to lure someone into clicking a malicious link.
2. Fake Retail Websites and Non-Delivery Fraud
Some holiday scams involve fake retail sites that appear polished and legitimate. These stores often sell items at unusually low prices, and once the order is placed, the buyer either receives nothing or a low-quality knockoff.
Non-delivery scams are particularly prevalent during the holiday season, specifically November and December. The FBI continues to warn consumers and businesses that this category results in heavy financial losses every year.
3. Delivery Notification Scams
Scammers send email or SMS alerts pretending to be from UPS, USPS, FedEx, or Amazon. These messages typically mimic the real notification format. The link, however, leads to a phishing site or initiates a malware download in the background. The attacker’s goal is often to steal credentials or gain a foothold on a device.
4. Gift Card Scams and Card-Draining Tactics
Gift cards remain one of the most vulnerable tools for fraud, so scammers use them aggressively during the holiday season. A few familiar patterns include:
- Gift card payment scam. Someone posing as a vendor, supervisor, or support agent demands payment through specific gift cards.
- Tampered cards. Criminals lift the protective coating, record the numbers, and reseal them. Once you activate the card, they empty the balance almost immediately.
- Fake gift card promotions. Social posts and online ads promise free or discounted cards in return for surveys or “simple verification steps,” which are often data-harvesting traps.
5. Charity and Donation Scams
Fraudsters exploit the giving season by spinning up fake charity websites or crowdfunding pages. Some copy well-known nonprofits, while others pretend to support local families or emergency needs. Donation forms often collect sensitive data that can be misused long after the holiday season is over.
6. Seasonal Job Scams
Fake job listings appear every year, usually offering remote work or quick holiday shifts. Scammers may request bank information, upfront training fees, or payment via gift cards. Some even pose as legitimate companies to make the communication look credible.
Why Holiday Scams Are Especially Dangerous for Businesses
Holiday scams aren’t just a consumer-level issue. These attacks have a significant impact on business environments, particularly those involving e-commerce, customer records, or cloud-based systems. A few reasons they’re particularly risky:
- Compromised credentials from phishing can give attackers entry to internal systems or cloud dashboards.
- Malware delivered through fake links may create long-term vulnerabilities or facilitate lateral movement.
- Fraud involving gift cards or bogus vendors can strain partner relationships and cause financial loss.
- Cloud apps and integrations are increasingly part of the attack surface, which means a small holiday scam can escalate into a significant data breach.
How to Prevent Holiday Scams: A Technical Playbook
Below are practical steps organizations and individuals can take to reduce risk during the holidays. Follow these steps to keep the cheer in your holiday season.
Implement Strong Email Security
- Utilize advanced filtering tools that identify known patterns of phishing and spoofing.
- Set up digital tools (DMARC, DKIM, and SPF) correctly to reduce impersonation attempts.
- Run periodic phishing simulations and cybersecurity training to keep your team aware of what these attempts look like in real scenarios.
Secure Endpoints and Use Threat Protection
- Keep your device's operating systems and applications up to date.
- Deploy anti-malware that utilizes behavioral and heuristic (or “rule of thumb”) analysis, rather than relying solely on signature updates.
- Segment networks so that a compromised endpoint cannot easily access other systems.
Use Secure Payment Protocols
- Stick to credit cards or established payment processors instead of gift cards for transactions.
- Enable virtual cards or tokenized payments whenever possible.
- Treat any invoice or vendor request for payment via gift card as a potential red flag.
Verify Before Clicking
- Take a moment to review URLs and look for suspicious spelling or formatting errors.
- For delivery notifications, please visit the carrier’s official website or mobile app directly, rather than clicking on message links.
Validate Charities and Job Offers
- Use reliable charity verification resources before making a donation.
- Cross-check any seasonal job offer on reputable job boards, and avoid roles that require upfront payments or financial information during the application phase.
Monitor and Report Suspicious Activity
- Keep alerts active on financial accounts.
- Use Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to monitor unusual login behavior or email patterns.
- Report suspected scams to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center so others can be warned.
Adept Networks Is Here to Help You Stay Safe
At Adept Networks, we know that holiday scams are more than a frustration. They pose a significant cybersecurity risk to businesses of all sizes. Our team supports clients by:
- Designing and maintaining secure email environments
- Deploying endpoint protection and threat monitoring tools
- Guiding businesses on secure payment approaches
- Providing phishing awareness and social engineering training
- Assisting with disaster recovery when a threat slips through
We combine technical expertise with a practical, real-world approach so your organization stays protected during the busiest season of the year.
Don’t Let Holiday Scams Steal Your Cheer
Holiday scams thrive during a season when people are busy and more likely to trust digital messages at a glance. With a thoughtful mix of awareness and strong security controls, much of this risk can be minimized.
Whether you need help securing personal devices or your business ecosystem, Adept Networks, your local IT service provider, in Spokane, Washington, and Medford, Oregon, can support you throughout the year. If you’d like to strengthen your defenses before the holiday peak, reach out to our team.
Stay safe, shop mindfully, and enjoy the season from all of us at Adept Networks.