Kaspersky warns of Valentine’s Day scams targeting gift buyers

With the most romantic holiday of the year approaching, love is in the air – along with online scams and phishing. As couples prepare to celebrate with flowers, love letters and carefully selected gifts, cybercriminals are setting fake websites, offering perfect bouquets, beautiful engagement rings or even Apple gadgets.  

Kaspersky experts identified several scam schemes users might face while shopping for romantic gifts and gave practical advice on how not to be deceived.  

Whether you are buying jewelry, flowers, the latest consumer technology or anything else online beware of offers that seem a little too good to be true. Valentine’s Day is considered as one of the most romantic days of the year to make a proposal, and the popularity of buying engagement rings online ahead of this holiday is actively used by cybercriminals. 

“Holiday time is always marked with the large number of scams. Fraudulent schemes are mostly standard, however, they are highly adaptable to all emerging trends,” suggests Olga Svistunova, a security expert at Kaspersky. “Being cautious, when receiving favorable offers and tremendous discounts online, is crucially important. It is advisable to verify website addresses and avoid entering your personal information or banking details on suspicious sites in order to protect yourself from potential scams.”

Kaspersky experts detected a fake website that closely mimics Amazon offering customers great deals on jewelry. The fraudulent scheme, aimed at stealing users’ Amazon credentials, encourages customers to enter their Amazon login and password, inadvertently compromising their account details to cybercriminals. This results in marketplace account takeover, potentially leading to other phishing attacks or personal and banking data leaks. 

Flowers are one of the major symbols of February 14th. Around 250 million roses are grown specifically for Valentine's Day every year. Inevitably this flourishing industry becomes attractive for scammers on the eve of the romantic holiday.

In another scam scheme spotted by Kaspersky, fraudsters do not even try to mimic the stores of famous brands, they create standalone fake websites with tempting offers and time-limited discounts. Vivid product images and beautiful descriptions are aimed at lowering the user's vigilance. Cybercriminals can exploit consumer trust to lure unsuspecting buyers into paying for orders that are never fulfilled. 

Tech gifts are rapidly gaining popularity among Valentine's Day shoppers. Smart-home and personal devises are becoming a common option for February 14th gift guides. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, scammers are also exploiting the tech gifts trend. Creating fake online stores that claim to offer famous technical brands’ products specially for Valentine’s Day, they try to capitalize on brand prominence and the popularity of this type of gift simultaneously. 

Kaspersky experts also provided additional advice to be followed in order to make online gifts shopping safe: check website URLs and domain names. In case of any doubts about a site’s authenticity, it’s highly recommended to browse for the official link; be cautious about advertising offers coming from email. Phishing links leading to fake shops are frequently distributed through spam mailings; avoid revealing personal and banking data. Only provide sensitive details on secure, verified platforms; use multi-aspect cybersecurity protection. Reliable cybersecurity software prevents clicking on malicious links and make all online transaction safe.