As the FBI warns consumers of holiday hack attacks, Apple, Nintendo, and Samsung buyers need to be especially alert. Here’s what you need to know.
The Black Friday sales are now a thing of the past for another year, but the security risks that came with them have not disappeared. The FBI has already warned seasonal shoppers of the holiday hacking risk, and now one of the biggest commercial cybersecurity providers has added its weight to the, with Disney and Steam not far behind.
Here’s what you need to know and do as the days-to-shop timer counts down.for all online consumers as the annual rush to buy presents in time for the holidays once more thrusts itself upon us. The FBI said it was “encouraging shoppers to be vigilant for scams that are designed to steal their money and obtain their personal information during the 2025 shopping season.” Based on information from 2024, the FBI reported that while investment scams, business email compromise and tech support impersonation topped the fraud and scams list across the U.S., personal data breach and non-payment or non-delivery scams plagued online shoppers. “While it may seem like an uptick during the holidays, the reality is as the volume of shopping transactions increase, so does the rise in fraudulent activity,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Nelsen. “Scammers are working every day of the year; there are simply more opportunities during the holidays.”Now McAfee Labs has also issued a warning, this time that revealed the precise brands that hackers and scammers are impersonating the most, as the festive shopping season is upon us. McAfee Labs shared data with me that reveals how scammers and hackers are copying the most trusted of retailers in order to create perfectly cloned online storefronts, along with accompanying fake email alerts and social media adverts designed to entice the unwary. “Shopping today happens quickly, on phones, between tasks and across social feeds,” McAfee’s Vonny Gamot said, and it is this speed that provides the realistic fakes with the room to slip through unnoticed. The most impersonated mainstream consumer brands are, McAfee said, Apple, Nintendo, Samsung, Disney and Steam, in that order. “Apple stands out within the most impersonated mainstream consumer brands with the highest volume of URL scams of any brand analyzed,” Gamot confirmed. Samsung wasn’t far behind in the research, thanks largely to the popularity of the Switch 2 as a gift during the 2025 holiday season already. Samsung impersonations, meanwhile, are unsurprisingly “primarily tied to scams involving phones and accessories.”McAfee recommended that consumers pause before they click on anything and instead go directly to the retailer’s official website or app. “If the deal feels rushed or the brand looks unfamiliar,” McAfee warned, “it’s safer to skip it.” The advice also included Turing on two-factor authentication and only using strong and unique passwords.not to “scan any QR codes, text, or call phone numbers to provide additional information if you’ve received an unsolicited package,” and steer clear of “untrustworthy sites or ads offering items at unrealistic discounts or with special coupons.”
FBI Warning FBI Security Warning FBI Holiday Scam Warning Scams Holiday Scams Apple Nintendo Holiday Shopping Attacks Seasonal Shopping Scams
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