Beware of Scam Party Invitations from Hijacked Accounts

The latest scam making the rounds preys on your trust and sociability. You receive what appears to be a party invite (Lake Austin outing, maybe?) from a friend via an invitation service like Paperless Post or Punchbowl. The email legitimately comes from your friend’s account, which has been compromised, but clicking any link in it takes you to a fake site that asks for your email credentials. (You have to love the “SAFE TO OPEN” line in the example below.) If you supply your email password, your account becomes the next one hijacked, and the scammer can then use email-based password resets to access your financial and other sensitive accounts. To protect yourself, be suspicious of invitations that lack basic details like date and location, preview links before clicking (hover on a Mac, touch and hold on an iPhone or iPad), and never enter your email password on any site other than your email provider’s own login page. Most importantly, enable two-factor authentication on your email accounts—it stops these takeovers in their tracks.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)