'Walmart Gift Card' Scam

Rogue websites are using Black Friday to trick visitors into exposing sensitive information or making fraudulent payments. One such untrustworthy page was observed running a fake Walmart loyalty giveaway. The fake scenario exploited by the page claimed that users have the chance to win a '$1000 Walmart Gift Card.'

In reality, the 'Walmart Gift Card' scam is in no way associated with the giant retail corporation. Walmart's name is simply used by the fraudsters as a lure, to make users think that the presented offer is legitimate. The dubious site will show a pop-up window claiming that users have three attempts to pick the right box out of the eight presents shown on the main page. When unsuspecting users choose the 'correct' box, they will see a message that their supposed gift card has been reserved.

The con artists will then ask each user to prove their identity by informing their email address and then completing the ID verification process. Any information entered into the fraudulent website will become available to its operators and effectively compromised. The fraudsters can then exploit the collected details to take over victims' accounts, impersonate them as part of various fraudulent activities, or simply sell the credentials to interested third parties. Many schemes of this type also ask their victims to pay bogus shipping, administration or other fees, as a prerequisite for receiving the non-existent rewards.