Phishing Season: Why Cybercriminals Love the Holidays

While most of us are busy wrapping up the work year and our carefully chosen Christmas presents, cybercriminals are wrapping up something else entirely: sophisticated phishing schemes designed to separate holiday shoppers from their hard-earned money. The holiday season brings a feeding frenzy for digital predators who understand human psychology all too well.

Your last few weeks of the year probably look a little like this: late-night shopping sessions, rushing to catch deals, juggling multiple retailer sites, and tracking a dozen different packages across various shipping carriers. You’re managing wish lists, comparing prices, and trying to make everyone’s holiday dreams come true—all while keeping your bank account more or less intact. 

For cybercriminals, this hectic dance creates a perfect opportunity. Your divided attention and heightened emotions become their greatest assets.

Phishing attempts always surge during the holiday season. Though it’s hard to pin down an exact figure, research suggests these attacks could increase by as much as 150% compared to the rest of the year. As legitimate retailers send billions of shipping notifications and deal alerts, scammers snap up the chance to slip their malicious messages into the mix. This tactic makes perfect sense from their point of view. After all, when you’re expecting dozens of legitimate purchase confirmations and tracking updates, spotting fraudulent ones will be exponentially harder.

Thankfully, there are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your business. 

This article will walk you through the psychology and tactics behind holiday phishing campaigns, revealing why this season makes us particularly vulnerable to digital deception. By the time you finish reading, you’ll understand exactly how criminals exploit holiday shopping behaviours. You’ll also be able to recognise the subtle signs of seasonal scams, and know how to protect yourself without adding stress to an already busy time of year. Most importantly, you’ll have practical, actionable strategies to keep your holidays merry and your data secure.

Holiday Phishing Scams: The Perfect Storm

The combination of increased online shopping, time pressure, and emotional vulnerability creates what security researchers call “prime attack conditions.” We’re all rushing to find the perfect gifts, and perhaps not paying as much attention to security best practices as we should. Add in the fact that many of us are making more online purchases than usual, and you’ve got a target-rich environment for cybercriminals.

It’s eerily similar to nature’s predator-prey dynamics, but with smartphones and credit cards instead of teeth and claws. Just as bears know exactly when salmon are running upstream, cybercriminals have their own seasonal calendar marked with prime hunting opportunities.

Why Holidays Are Hacker Heaven

The reasons cybercriminals love the holiday season are numerous and, from their perspective, rather logical:

1. Volume of Transactions: The sheer number of online purchases during the holiday season provides excellent cover for fraudulent activity. When someone’s making dozens of transactions across multiple platforms, spotting that one odd payment becomes significantly harder. 
2. Time Pressure: Nothing makes people more careless than a countdown timer on a limited offer. When that coveted item is “95% sold out” and there’s only “2 minutes left” to purchase, our brain’s risk assessment centre tends to take an impromptu vacation. Cybercriminals know this and craft their messages accordingly.
3. Expected Communications: During the holidays, we expect to receive dozens of shipping notifications, order confirmations, and “special offer” emails. This normalises the exact type of communications phishers love to mimic. A fake shipping notification that would seem suspicious in April can feel perfectly natural in December.
4. Emotional Vulnerability: The holidays can be emotionally charged, making us more susceptible to manipulation. When we’re stressed about finding the right gifts or anxious about holiday expenses, our usual scepticism might take a back seat. Cybercriminals exploit this psychological state with cold precision.

The Most Common Holiday Phishing Scams 

“Your Package Has Been Delayed” 

This classic becomes especially effective during the holiday season. With multiple parcels en route to multiple destinations, even the most security-conscious among us might click on a tracking link without proper scrutiny. 

Unfortunately, fraudsters have gotten remarkably sophisticated—their fake shipping notifications often include accurate retailer logos, tracking number formats, and even shipping carrier branding.

The “Limited Time Offer” Trap

Nothing says holidays quite like a too-good-to-be-true deal on this year’s most sought-after gifts. These phishing emails come disguised as legitimate retailer promotions, complete with professional graphics and urgent countdown timers. The psychology is simple but effective: nobody wants to miss out on saving 70% on this year’s hottest electronics.

Gift Card Schemes

Gift cards are already a holiday staple, making them perfect phishing bait. Cybercriminals send emails claiming to be from major retailers offering discounted gift cards or alerting recipients to “unused gift card balances.” These schemes can target both consumers and businesses, with a recent twist involving fake corporate gift card programs.

Fake Account Security Alerts

During the holidays, when many of us are making purchases from new or unfamiliar retailers, scammers capitalise by sending fake security alerts. These messages might, for example, claim suspicious activity on your account, warning that your recent holiday purchases will be cancelled unless you “verify” your identity immediately. The timing makes the alerts seem particularly credible—after all, you have been shopping on new websites lately.

Failed Payment Fear Mongering

With holiday budgets stretched thin and multiple charges hitting our cards, a message about a failed payment doesn’t seem unusual. Cybercriminals commonly send alerts claiming your recent gift purchase couldn’t be processed and will be cancelled unless you “update” your payment information. The threat of disappointing a loved one adds emotional pressure to act quickly rather than carefully.

Fake Holiday E-Cards

Digital holiday cards have become increasingly popular, making them the perfect cover for malware distribution. Scammers send emails claiming to be from a “friend” or “colleague” who has sent you a digital gift. The attachment or link, promising festive cheer, instead delivers malicious code. These attacks often surge in workplace environments where holiday e-cards between colleagues are common.

Corporate Holiday Phishing Emails

Fake e-cards are far from the only seasonal phishing challenges businesses face. The increase in holiday-related corporate communications provides perfect cover for business email compromise (BEC) attacks. 

When employees are expecting emails about holiday parties, charitable giving campaigns, and end-of-year bonuses, a well-crafted phishing email can slip through both technical and human defences. And hackers love exploiting these potentially lucrative opportunities for social engineering. After all, a phishing email disguised as a party RSVP or end-of-year survey might not raise eyebrows in December, despite looking suspicious any other time of year.

Want to learn more about social engineering attacks? Visit our guide covering everything business owners need to know. 

Holiday Phishing Awareness: How Do Scammers Trick Us? 

The first thing to know is that cybercriminals are always playing a numbers game. Send out a fake shipping notification to 2 million people, and you’re bound to get at least a few who are expecting a package from that carrier. But the success of holiday phishing campaigns isn’t just about volume—it’s about understanding human behaviour. 

Cybercriminals exploit a few subtle psychological factors that become more pronounced during the holiday season:

Decision Fatigue

By the time someone’s compared prices across multiple websites, read dozens of product reviews, and tracked several shipments, their mental energy for security vigilance is often depleted. This decision fatigue makes us more likely to take shortcuts in our security practices.

Social Proof

When we see others rushing to buy popular products or take advantage of limited deals, our natural scepticism can get lost in the manufactured urgency. Cybercriminals exploit this by creating a false sense of social proof in their phishing attempts, making their scams appear more legitimate.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

The holiday season amplifies our natural FOMO tendencies. Nobody wants to miss a great deal or have a gift arrive late. This fear makes us more likely to act now and think later.

Cybersecurity During the Holidays: How to Protect Yourself

Maintaining security doesn’t mean abandoning holiday cheer. Here are some practical strategies for boosting your cyber hygiene and staying safe without adding extra stress to the season:

Create a Dedicated Shopping Email Account

Using a separate email address for online shopping helps contain potential security breaches and makes it easier to spot suspicious communications. It also helps prevent phishing emails from getting mixed in with important personal or work correspondence.

Use Virtual Credit Card Numbers

Many credit card companies now offer virtual card numbers for online shopping. These temporary numbers provide an extra layer of security without adding complexity to the shopping process. 

You can basically create a digital card for a single purchase (or set of purchases), make the payment, and then delete the card. This leaves your main card details perfectly safe and secure. And if your digital card details are compromised, they’ll be useless to the hacker as the card no longer exists. 

Bookmark Legitimate Sites

Rather than clicking links in emails or advertisements, bookmark your frequently used shopping sites. This simple habit eliminates one of the most common phishing attack vectors. All you need to do is get in the habit of accessing sites via your verified saved links. 

Trust Your Gut

If a deal seems suspiciously good, it probably is. The same goes for urgent messages about account problems or shipping issues. If you’re feeling pressured or alarmed by a call, message, or email, take a breath, step back, and verify through official channels.

The Future of Holiday Phishing Scams

Social engineering attacks were bad enough. But with AI helping scammers increase the quality, volume, and distribution capabilities of their attacks, the future looks challenging, to say the least. AI-powered phishing attacks can now generate highly personalised content, making traditional red flags harder to spot. The holiday season of 2024 will likely see increasingly sophisticated attacks using machine learning to craft more convincing lures.

On the slightly brighter side, this same technology is being deployed in defence, with AI-powered email filters and fraud detection systems becoming more sophisticated. So, the arms race between security professionals and cybercriminals will forge on, with the holiday season remaining a crucial battleground.

The best gift you can give yourself this Christmas is a healthy dose of scepticism combined with sensible security practices. By understanding the seasonal nature of phishing attacks and the psychology behind them, you can better protect yourself while still enjoying the festive period.

If you’re concerned about your organisation’s holiday cybersecurity readiness or would like personalised guidance on protecting your business during this critical period, contact Invotec’s security team. Our experts can help you develop and implement robust protective measures tailored to your specific needs.