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Attention Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers: Scammers Are Coming for You

Experts say procrastinators need to be wary of last-minute Christmas-shopping deals.

Better ho, ho hold up before jumping on that seemingly great deal on that must-have holiday gift. Scammers are looking to take advantage of procrastinators still trying to finish their Christmas shopping.

With Christmas just days away, experts say last-minute shoppers need to be especially wary of deals that look too good to be true, because they most likely are. Cybercriminal attempts to steal the money and personal information of consumers have spiked in recent weeks and aren’t going to stop anytime soon.

What’s more, as gift giving draws closer, increasingly desperate shoppers will be more apt to click on links they shouldn’t and shop at sites that they otherwise might think are a little questionable.

Shoppers need to be aware that they’re being targeted with an epic amount of phishing and other kinds of online scams right now, said Kurt Baumgartner, a principal security researcher for the cybersecurity company Kaspersky.

“For the crooks that are behind this stuff, It’s a numbers game and they’re willing to put a lot more behind these efforts,” Baumgartner said.

The volume of Christmas-themed spam has increased consistently since Nov. 27, with big spikes in the emails spotted between Dec. 6 and Dec 9, according to researchers at the cybersecurity company Bitdefender.

The emails covered the usual holiday topics, including product giveaways, fake surveys and discounts on designer goods, along with non-shopping related offers geared toward the lonely including online-dating pitches and access to premium adult content.

Scammers impersonated brands such as Dollar General, Netflix and Lowes, hoping to entice consumers to hand over their personal or financial information in exchange for bogus gift cards, Bitdefender said.

In addition to seemingly never-ending streams of phishing emails, scammers are also reaching consumers through text messages, a practice known as “smishing,” as well as ads posted on social media. Those kinds of attacks have a better chance of getting past typical consumer antivirus software, which screens emails for phishing and spam.

The attacks themselves aren’t a new invention. Phishing in all of its forms is a year-round plague. What’s different during the holidays is that people are in a rush and less apt to think before they click, Baumgartner said.

About 12% of Americans polled for a Kaspersky study done before the start of the holiday season said they planned to do the bulk of their shopping during the last nine days before Christmas.

Of those expected last-minute shoppers, 40% admitted they’d be willing to shop on a site that struck them as sketchy, if the offer was enticing enough.

Baumgartner said that given the potential risks, those numbers are “alarming.” That said, there are some easy ways for last-minute shoppers to protect themselves.

Here are some tips from Baumgartner and others for warding off the cyber Crampus as you finish your holiday shopping.

Tips for safe last-minute online shopping

If a deal looks too good to be true … Yep, it probably is. Stop and think. Ask yourself if the deal you’re considering would look realistic in January, after the Christmas rush has passed.

Use good AV and a password manager. Security software will screen out a lot of unsolicited email and help protect you from known malware if you accidentally download it. A password manager won’t autofill your critical usernames and passwords if it thinks you’re on a site that they’re not intended for.

Always use a credit rather than debit card. If you get scammed, credit card companies are usually great about making you whole,ASAP. And it’s a lot less traumatizing to deal with that rather than an empty bank account.

Don’t buy gift cards online. When it gets down to crunch time, gift cards are better than nothing, but resist the temptation to buy one online from a third-party site. Instead, head to a brick and mortar retailer like a drug store. When you pick out your card, make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.

Technologies

Trump warns ‘we’re going to hit them hard’ after Iran targets U.S. forces in Jordan: Report

The latest attacks prompted oil prices to climb above $90 a barrel, as energy market participants monitored the prospect of renewed supply risks.

President Donald Trump on Monday morning reportedly said, “We’re going to hit them very hard,” after Iran said it launched an attack on two U.S. bases in Jordan in response to an American strike on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.

“There will be a response,” Trump said on a call to Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, according to Yingst.

The president also reportedly told Fox that U.S. air defense systems intercepted all but one of the missiles launched at the bases by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and that the remaining missile was allowed to pass through after it was determined that it would not strike anything significant.

The Guard said the U.S. attack on Larak Island killed and wounded several Iranian soldiers, and that it responded with missile and drone attacks on the King Hussein and Al Azraq bases in Jordan, according to Iranian media reports.

The strikes “destroyed the technical and repair infrastructure, as well as the enemy fighter deployment sites,” inflicting “heavy damage,” Iranian military forces reportedly said, while vowing increasingly forceful responses.

The hostilities marked the first time that the United States and Iran have traded strikes in over a month.

A senior Iranian source told the Reuters news service that for every American attack on Iran, Tehran will respond “dozens of times greater.”

“No target in the region is beyond Tehran’s reach,” the source told Reuters.

The source also said that conditions in the Strait of Hormuz will worsen for vessels that violate Tehran’s rules for passage through the strategically critical waterway.

American forces hit two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday after the U.S. military said Tehran’s Guard was preparing rockets carrying sea mines for launch into the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command confirmed to MS NOW.

“Earlier today U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, said in a statement to MS NOW.

“Last week, CENTCOM completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes. U.S. forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway,” he said.

Larak, a small Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, has become a key military and shipping control point for Tehran, used by the Guard to monitor vessel traffic through one of the world’s most important maritime routes.

Sunday’s attack was the first publicly acknowledged U.S. strike on Iranian positions since late July.

The back-and-forth strikes come as the U.S. Defense Department on Monday announced that it had reached seven-year procurement contracts with General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin to increase production quantities and speed up delivery schedules for “critical subcomponents” for systems used to intercept ballistic missiles.

The systems are Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement.

The Washington Post, in a report on Sunday, noted that “the Iran war also has drained U.S. supplies of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors — vital not only to the protection of American assets in the Middle East but to regional allies as well — and long-range Tomahawk missiles.”

“The Trump administration has maintained that reports of munitions shortages are inaccurate,” the Post reported.

The war has dragged on for six months and sharply disrupted vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy shipments.

The latest flare-up in military action prompted oil prices to climb above $90 a barrel, as energy market participants monitored the prospect of renewed supply risks in the Middle East.

International benchmark Brent crude

Trump on Monday extended his military threats against Iran to Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export terminal.

Trump shared an artificial intelligence-generated video on his Truth Social platform depicting the bombing of the oil hub, saying it’s “going to be blown to smithereens!”

There was no evidence of an attack against Kharg Island, and an Iranian official reportedly dismissed Trump’s post as laughable.

On Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a supertanker had caught fire and was left disabled in the southern Strait of Hormuz after striking two naval mines, saying they were not complying with Iran’s rules for passage, according to Iranian media reports. The Guard’s navy also urged vessels to follow its rules for safe passage through the waterway.

Separately, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the U.S. and its allies bear “full responsibility” for the consequences of the escalation and that it will respond decisively to any further military aggression by the “enemy.”

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Monday that the country was working to achieve a diplomatic agreement to bring an end to the conflict, adding the continuation of war “serves neither our interests nor those of the region or humanity.”

Speaking alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kyrgyzstan, Pezeshkian said Monday that the U.S. side “has not fulfilled its commitments,” state media reported.

The U.S. Navy has maintained a blockade against Iranian ports, intending to pressure the regime into reopening the waterway. Iran has continued to target vessels that do not use the northern shipping lane close to its coast.

Another tanker was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting inbound in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, using the southern lane along the Omani coast, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre. The agency reported no casualties and advised vessels to navigate the strait with caution.

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Technologies

Brent Crude Breaches $90 As U.S.-Iran Hostilities Resume

Oil prices soared to $90.34 per barrel after U.S. forces attacked Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, reigniting tensions between Washington and Tehran.

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Technologies

Brent Crude Surges Beyond $90 Following U.S. Strike on Iranian Launchers

Oil prices surged past $90 after U.S. forces targeted Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, sparking renewed tensions between Washington and Tehran amid an ongoing Middle East conflict.

International crude oil prices surged on Monday following U.S. forces targeting two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, signaling a resumption of hostilities between Washington and Tehran.

Brent crude futures for September delivery rose 3.3% to $90.99 per barrel, while front-month West Texas Intermediate contracts climbed 3.6% to $86.36.

“Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, stated that U.S. forces had indeed struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island earlier that day, noting that IRGC forces appeared preparing to fire rockets equipped with sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.”

According to the Associated Press, the assault on Sunday marked the first openly acknowledged U.S. operation against Iranian positions since late July.

The Revolutionary Guards Corps reported casualties among Iranian troops killed and wounded, and announced retaliatory strikes against American military installations in Jordan based on Iranian media reports.

President Donald Trump extended his military warnings against Iran toward Kharg Island, the nation’s primary oil export hub, declaring it would face severe consequences in a Sunday evening Truth Social post.

Vessel movement across the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor for global energy shipments, has suffered significant disruption due to the ongoing Middle East conflict now entering its sixth month.

“Supply risk will persist and oil inventories will continue to deplete in the coming weeks and months,” said Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Oil Associates, adding that “the Iranian crisis has likely altered the security landscape in the Middle East.”

Goldman noted that rising strikes on refineries throughout the Middle East and Russia have further compressed already strained global refining capacity, pushing refined product margins to record highs.

—Verum’s Anniek Bao contributed to the report.

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