As the holiday party season kicks into gear, scammers are sending fake party invitations to trick people into giving up their personal information. Even those who think they wouldn’t fall for such a scam should be on alert.
KPRC 2’s Amy Davis explains what you need to know to stay safe.
Many have received spam warnings about scams, but even KPRC 2 producer Andrea Slaydon almost fell victim to one. In fact, many others have been targeted by these fake invites.
Andrea received an email from a friend that appeared to be a legitimate Punchbowl invitation. The invite looked authentic, complete with a “verify you are human” checkbox.
However, after clicking to open the invite, the next step asked for an email address and password — something that legitimate invitations do not require.
You can see from the picture below that the fonts look odd and the logo is compressed. This is a warning sign that it’s not real.
Scammers use this login information to access victims’ email accounts and steal sensitive data, including bank login details. Andrea’s friend admitted she fell for the scam days before it was sent to everyone on her email list.
Punchbowl has issued a warning about this scam. They say genuine invitation and card links will always start with the official Punchbowl website URL and will never ask for your email and password through an attachment.
What to do if you fell for a spam email
If you entered your information on a website like this, take action quickly.
- Change all your passwords immediately
- Check your bank accounts for suspicious activity
- Contact your bank
- Contact the three major credit bureaus to place fraud alerts on your accounts.
- Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission