Scammers want to fill their Easter basket with your personal info and money, Bitdefender Antispam Lab warns

The holidays always bring a surge in online scams, so researchers at Bitdefender Antispam Lab want to help you stay aware of potential email-based threats and dangerous Easter-themed spam that you can expect in your inbox this year.

Easter celebrations give people around the world peace of heart and mind. To cybercriminals, Easter brings additional inspiration and leverage to con unsuspecting individuals out of their hard-earned cash.

As many of us prepare for traditional Easter festivities with family and friends, scammers look for ways to catch people off guard with a nasty bag of tricks.

More phony surveys and Easter giveaways are making their way into users’ inboxes, Bitdefender Antispam warns

Fraudsters have their eye on stealing personal info and money from victims. Beginning this week, our researchers have spotted a wave of fraudulent Easter-themed vouchers and surveys that offer recipients gifts and candy. Some scam campaigns impersonate brands such as Amazon, Sam’s Club, Aldi, Jumbo and Kinder.

The fraudulent messages were directed toward US and European recipients, including in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Some fake surveys bait recipients with vouchers for Easter-themed baskets filled with chocolates; others offer a choice between a list of household items or gadgets from Amazon worth 750 Euros.

Here’s a digital translation of the above message:

“Easter is approaching and spring is almost here! How do you celebrate Easter? Whether you're enjoying a traditional family brunch, an adventurous weekend at home, or organizing an adventurous Easter egg hunt, we'd love to hear your story. Complete our survey and have a chance to win one of the many Aldi gift cards.”

These typical Easter scams are meant to trick unsuspecting victims into providing their personal information and money.

Where do scammers draw the line?

Cybercriminals have no moral compass, exploiting every chance to defraud individuals, even during Easter. Colorful easter eggs, short family breaks, and religious and charity events may also make a scammers’ list this year, so keep a vigilant eye out for:

• Unsolicited messages and Easter-themed e-cards. If it’s from an unfamiliar or suspicious sender, don’t click on links or download attachments. They might contain a malicious payload that can infect your device, steal personal information, and hijack your accounts.
• Scam artists may also set up bogus fundraising platforms and charities to exploit your generosity, so always do your research if you decide to make any online donations.
• Too good-to-be-true offers for Easter weekend breaks, plane tickets and other accommodation you may come across on various online platforms, including your social media feed and sponsored ads.
• Limited-time offers, messages that create a sense of urgency or correspondence that says you’ve won a great prize or gift.
• Emails that appear to be sent from your workplace (emails impersonating HR, managers, or high-ranking individuals within an organization) that entice you with holiday bonuses, extra time off, or other catchy titles. These can also pose a serious risk to the security of your device and workplace, as malicious actors often impersonate the workplace to spread malware, disrupt operations, extract sensitive information, or commit fraud.

Become a savvy scam buster this Easter and beyond with Bitdefender Scamio.

Scamio is our AI-powered scam detector that helps you determine in minutes whether any unsolicited correspondence is a potential scam. Describe the situation to Scamio, send a link, text or screenshot. Scamio will analyze the information and respond. You can access Scamio for free on any device or operating system via your web browser or Facebook Messenger.

Do you have a robust cybersecurity plan to protect you and your family during the holidays?

Grab an award-winning Bitdefender security solution to protect all your devices and identity against malicious and fraudulent activity no matter where you are and how you choose to celebrate the holidays.

With Bitdefender's all-in-one plans, you get award-winning antimalware protection and benefit from advanced anti-fraud and anti-phishing filtering systems that warn you whenever you visit a website that may try to defraud you. Paired with our state-of-the-art Password Manager to help you store your sensitive data passwords, a powerful Premium VPN or Digital Identity Protection, you can rest assured that your online privacy and identity are safe against snoops and identity thieves.