Suspicious domain name registrations targeting Valentine’s Day shoppers increased by 152% in January: Report

Malicious activities such as registration of domain names for websites offering Valentine’s Day deals to shoppers increased by 152% month-on-month (MoM) in January, said Check Point Research. Around 55% of the domains were found to be suspicious while 6% were deemed malicious by the Israel-based cybersecurity company. This is the third straight year in which domain name registrations have seen triple digit growth -- in 2021 and 2020, Check Point had seen 163% and 120% increase, respectively, up from 81% in January 2019.

In addition to domain names, Check Point also reported an increase in phishing emails offering deals or imitating actual brands offering Valentine’s Day products. The report shows that 1 out of 371 malicious emails in January were targeted at Valentine’s Day shoppers.  

For instance, one phasing email used the flower shopping store ‘The Million Roses’ to trick shoppers into buying flower bouquets for their loved ones. Check Point found that the email was sent from a spoofed address and the company address listed in the email didn’t match with the actual address.  

“Cyber criminals are looking to take advantage of the moment. They’re aim is to dupe shoppers into making ‘purchases’ on their sites, but really it’s a decoy to steal personal information, which could lead to a whole host of problems for victims,” Omer Dembinsky, Data Group Manager at Check Point Software said in a statement.  

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Dembinsky warned shoppers not to trust any unsolicited password reset emails or discounts that are too good to be true. 

“Any one or a combination of these are red flags, and should tip you off that you’re in front of a trap set up by a cyber criminal,” he added.  

Increase in season and festival specific phishing emails and domain name registration to target shoppers has become quite common. Hackers time their phishing attacks to coincide with the festive season sales to trick buyers into believing that they are authentic.