MANILA, Philippines – Pinoys are warned against the malicious holiday greetings disguised as genuine message that’s circulating on social media. The message actually looks genuine and would show users seemingly genuine greetings, but actually leads them to different unsecured websites.
A lot of Pinoys received the malicious and fraudulent Christmas and New Year greetings from friends and family through social messenger apps, particularly Facebook Messenger.
“I am send you a surprise message. Open this,” the message reads, with a mail icon that’s designed to be clicked by curious netizens. Many quickly ignored the message, particularly because it shows a blatant grammar error that many have come to associate with scammers. However, there were also many who thought that the message was genuine.
Once clicked, the message shows various holiday greetings that are designed to make the user think they got a real Christmas message. But as the message quietly redirects them to different unsecured websites, the user is asked to input personal data. Again, this supposedly looks innocent but online security firms discovered that a “malicious” file is running in the background while the user reads through the greetings.
While some users manually forwarded the message to their friends, the “malicious” file actually goes through the user’s phone and uses his/her credentials to send the same message to their other contacts. Unknown to the victim, he/she has sent out the message to friends on their contact list.
The following websites are considered malicious, according to Cyber Security Philippines - Computer Emergency Response Team (CSP-CERT):
What to do if you opened the message?
Whether you did that intentionally or just accidentally, the cybersecurity group advised that you change the passwords of your social media accounts as well as online banking accounts as soon as possible! It might be a good idea to update your anti-malware and virus scanner, scan your device, and reset your phone’s browser. It is always better to be safe than sorry…
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
A lot of Pinoys received the malicious and fraudulent Christmas and New Year greetings from friends and family through social messenger apps, particularly Facebook Messenger.
“I am send you a surprise message. Open this,” the message reads, with a mail icon that’s designed to be clicked by curious netizens. Many quickly ignored the message, particularly because it shows a blatant grammar error that many have come to associate with scammers. However, there were also many who thought that the message was genuine.
Once clicked, the message shows various holiday greetings that are designed to make the user think they got a real Christmas message. But as the message quietly redirects them to different unsecured websites, the user is asked to input personal data. Again, this supposedly looks innocent but online security firms discovered that a “malicious” file is running in the background while the user reads through the greetings.
 |
| Photo credit: How to Remove |
While some users manually forwarded the message to their friends, the “malicious” file actually goes through the user’s phone and uses his/her credentials to send the same message to their other contacts. Unknown to the victim, he/she has sent out the message to friends on their contact list.
The following websites are considered malicious, according to Cyber Security Philippines - Computer Emergency Response Team (CSP-CERT):
- wish-you(dot)co
- wish4u(dot)co
- my-msg(dot)co
- look-me(dot)co
- surprise4u(dot)me
- hookupgist(dot)com
- see-magic(dot)co
- mera-style(dot).co
- whatsapp-style(dot)co
- my-love(dot)co
What to do if you opened the message?
Whether you did that intentionally or just accidentally, the cybersecurity group advised that you change the passwords of your social media accounts as well as online banking accounts as soon as possible! It might be a good idea to update your anti-malware and virus scanner, scan your device, and reset your phone’s browser. It is always better to be safe than sorry…
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
