Holiday shopping sales are expected to reach $602 billion this year.
And, as the busiest shopping season of the year approaches, cyber criminals are set to exploit popular consumer behaviour to steal personal information, earn cash and spread malware.
McAfee says its annual "12 Scams of Christmas" list is intended to educate the public on the most common scams criminals use during the holiday season.
"The potential for identity theft increases as consumers share personal information across multiple devices that are often under-protected," says Craig Hockley, regional director for SA and sub-Saharan Africa at McAfee.
1. Not-so-merry mobile apps - This includes software specifically for holiday shopping. This software is designed to steal or send out the user's personal data. When using these apps, criminals can redirect incoming calls and messages, allowing them to bypass two-step authentication systems.
2. Holiday mobile SMS scams - Android users are fooled into thinking that FakeInstaller is a legitimate installer for an app. The malicious software takes advantage of unrestricted access to the user's smartphone data, sending SMS messages to premium rate numbers.
3. Hot holiday gift scams - These ads offer unbelievable deals on newly released items. The criminals lure consumers in with phony contests on social networks or send phishing e-mails to entice viewers to reveal personal information or to download malware onto their devices.
4. Seasonal travel scams - Similar to holiday gift scams, fake travel deal links and notifications are common at this time of year. When an individual logs into an infected PC with a username and password, scammers can install keylogging spyware or key-catching hardware. And hackers can also access hotel WiFi systems, which request that people install software before connecting.
5. Dangerous e-seasons greetings - E-cards that look legitimate could be used as a vehicle for malware.
6. Deceptive online games - Many sites that offer full-version downloads of popular games are laden with malware.
7. Shipping notification shams - Cyber crooks will send out fake shipping notifications to update the customer on their shipment, but the communication is actually a scam carrying malware and other harmful software.
8. Bogus gift cards - Fake gift cards are often promoted via deceptive ads, especially on social networks.
9. Holiday SMiShing - This occurs when scammers pose as banks or credit card companies asking the customer to confirm information for "security purposes". SMiShing is commonly seen in gift card messages.
10. Fake charities - Cyber criminals capitalise on the generosity of the season of giving by creating fake charity sites.
11. Romance scams - Messages sent from an online friend about niche dating sites could be phishing scams, where the criminal is able to accesses the personal information of the user.
12. Phony e-tailers - E-commerce sales are predicted to rise 15% from 2012. Criminals are looking to use this trend to their advantage by setting up phony e-commerce sites that steal money and personal data.
"Understanding criminals' mindsets and being aware of how they try to take advantage of consumers can help ensure that we use our devices the way they were intended - to enhance our lives, not jeopardise them," Hockley concludes.
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