Every year, holiday season calls
for explosion of spam, scam and a wide range of security threats. This year, a
holiday themed email scam targeted customers of retail giants. Especially when
customers were frequently using those stores to place orders – one of those
hapless victims are shoppers of Costco.
Costco email scam
One holiday shopper of Costco
have almost fallen for the prey of Costco email scam as she used both online
and local retail stores and trusted the brand. Marianne Bartley, the shopper,
revealed that "Costco's a very reputable company. I believe in them so I
almost didn't think twice" when the email scam hit her inbox. The email
stated that the company has spotted an issue with the order of delivery as the
address mentioned for home delivery is incorrect. She continued with "They
were going to refund me, but if I didn't do it within a week then I would be
fined 21 percent" which triggered her suspicion.
The major aspect which prompted
the seeds of suspicion was the language error she spotted in the mail. As she
couldn’t believe which she read, she considered rereading over and over again.
She realized that the grammar of the email was not correct and such incorrect
language problem was unlikely from reputed brand as Costco. She said that the
language grammatically was not quite right. It didn't ring true and I had to
reread it."
Do not disclose your contact details
The holiday email scam also
threatened to fine her with 21% of the total order amount if she would not fill
out the form and furnish her contact details. Hence, she called out Costco
customer service department. The national customer service of Costco clearly
warned that such mails are ‘phishing scams’ and need to be deleted immediately.
"If you received an email
concerning a delivery failure or cancellation: immediately delete the e-mail
and do not reply. This is a phishing scam and was not sent by Costco. Costco is
not affiliated with the e-mail in any way."
Hence, be prepared and refrain
from falling to such lures being targeted at holiday shoppers of reputed retail
giants.
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