There’s a web page made to look like it’s from KMart (a retail store). It has a survey and it promises to give you $150 credit if you fill out the survey.
Like most scams, there’s an incentive to catch your attention – in this case it’s a $150 credit. This kind of scam is called phishing.
The fake survey asks a set of questions, then asks for your full name, credit card number and PIN. Never give this out in a survey!
After you enter all your details, it takes you to the real KMart’s web page so that you don’t suspect anything. Then criminals will use your credit card details to make expensive purchases.
How to identify the fake survey:
- An email is sent to you with the subject "You have been selected"
- The link in the email doesn’t point to KMart, it points to a web site with the word epiqteen in the URL
- The body of the email is:
You have been selected to access the Kmart Holiday Survey and win a $150.00 gift certificate.
Please click here and complete the form to claim your prize. Thank you.
To prevent these attacks:
- Use one of the "other" web browsers, such as FireFox, Opera and Chrome. These have better technology at detecting phishing sites.
- Install a good anti-virus package, one that scans web sites as well as files. This a paid service and you usually get a good up-to-date list of phishing sites, and it works automatically in the background. The small cost is a great investment for your security.
- Be very cautious of generous offers (I don’t think many companies can afford to give $150 to all their customers right now).
- When you see a suspicious email, copy and paste its contents into Google. Then read through the results to determine if it’s a scam. E.g., Google indexes all of Fraudo’s pages, so any scams I write about here will show up on a Google search.
- Never give out your credit card details in surveys.
- Read the URL carefully. The URL is the address shown at the top of your web browser. If it’s not the exact name of a legitimate company then be suspicious.