Your 1000AUD Coles Gift Card Scam
A malicious scam attempt claiming your 1000AUD Coles gift card is available, has been caught by MailShark spam filters. It targets Coles Supermarkets, a leading Australian supermarket chain. We highly recommend deleting this email from your inbox if received as it will only end in a malware infection. The $1000 gift card offer is not real.
Figure A shows the “Your 1000AUD Coles gift card scam” email in question. It is well branded to suit Coles Supermarkets and features several pushy call-to-actions.
The subject line reads “your 1000AUD gift card”, which intrigues attention in the hopes of you opening it.
The sender is displayed as “coles giftcards”, however the email address used is in no way associated with the official Coles website and is definitely spam.
Other spam indications within this email include:
- Poor grammar (e.g. no capitals for business name)
- Pushy content & call-to-actions
- Malicious links (you can see the destination URL of a link by hovering your mouse over it without clicking)
- False gift card offer
- Careless mistakes (e.g. numbers at top of email and random link at the very bottom)
Clicking anywhere within this email will lead you to a malicious website which can end in a malware infection. Avoid clicking and delete the email straight away.
Figure B shows the website you will land on if any links from the email are clicked. It is again well branded to suit Coles.
This page is designed to get you to click one more time and will infect your computer with malware. A simple question is asked which is a scam tactic used to trick you into clicking and answering. Do not answer this question or click anywhere on this website. You will not receive a gift card. Delete the email straight away and run your anti-virus if you think you are at risk.
Gift card scam emails are a long used tactic in the world of scamming but they are clearly still being fallen for due to the vast numbers we see pass through our spam filters.
Stay safe online and delete any similar emails reaching your inbox. A spam filter on your email could be beneficial for you if you see scam emails in your inbox regularly.
Where in the world did the bulk of this Email come from?
Check out our Global Spam Sources page, for a World map of spam sources.
Steph Kent
MailShark
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