Woolworths Christmas Gift Card Scam
A Woolworths Christmas gift card scam attempt has been caught by MailShark spam filters using the holiday season as a tactic to infect your computer with malware. Woolworths (locally known as Woolies) is an Australian supermarket chain that is one of the most popular in the country. Keep reading to find out more about this malicious scam email.
Figure A is a copy of the Woolworths Christmas gift card scam email. It is branded well but the overall layout is not designed to the high standard the supermarket chain would normally convey. It uses a personal greeting (in black for privacy reasons) and features several malicious links. This email uses a Christmas style tactic with an advent calendar to increase the chance of a click. The subject line reads “New Woolworths giftcard this Christmas”, which attracts the receiver’s attention. The sender is shown as “Woolworths Voucher – Deal Outlet”, however the email address used is in no way associated with the official Woolworths website and it is clearly spam. Do not click any links within this email and delete it from your inbox if received.
Figure B is a safely captured screenshot of the website visit for the Woolworths Christmas gift card scam email which you will land on if any of the links are clicked. It is branded to suit Woolworths but the design is outdated. This page uses the advent calendar tactic again and states you must click on the date of today to reveal your gift card. As this particular email was sent on Tuesday the 15th of December, the day is highlighted in green to encourage you to click through faster. Be warned that clicking through on this page will lead to a malware infection on your computer.
Avoid reaching the malicious website at all costs by deleting the email if you see it. Gift card scams are extremely popular and some are taking advantage of the holiday seasons and upping their game. We strongly suggest also deleting email of similar nature that may reach your inbox. We hope you stay safe online during the Christmas period!
Steph Kent
MailShark
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My elderly mother received what appears to be a variation of this scam aimed at obtaining personal details via a survey, and also earning money via premium phone calls. Was not able to locate any information directly related to this company name yet, possibly too new. I have reported there activities to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Scamwatch as advised by Woolworths. Full details of this possible scam provided below.
Stay safe!
Kezza.
Further Details:
An email was sent to my elderly mother informing her that she had won a prize. Admittedly, at some point in time she has opted in to receive notifications of vouchers, so the email was not unsolicitated. However, the wording in the email is questionable, going from being a winner, to being an implied winner, and finally to having the opportunity to be a winner.
This was the title of the email: name removed for privacy reasons.
“congratulations [SIC] [FIRST NAME], you are a winner Receive a $1000 Gift Card to spend at Woolworths”.
However, in the email it states the following.
“Only at Woolworths! You’re selected [FIRST NAME]! Receive a $1000 Gift Card to spend at Woolworths and become one of Australia’s fresh food people! Please click the button below and enter to win $1000 to shop at Woolworths.”
Woolworths does not acknowledge any such competition. Parent company seems to be MBG AUS PTY LTD and also involved are Great Australian Voucher, and Mail Gifts.
Copied from the small print at the bottom of the survey page. “Some third party promotions may feature premium rate entry.” and “This competition is operated by au.swooosh.com not the brand directly. The inclusion of brands in no way means that these brands are endorsing au.swooosh.com.”
Hi Kezza. Excellent work and yes, it’s really important to report such scams to the ACCC / Scamwatch, their newsletter is widespread and if enough reports get to them they’ll release it in their newsletter.
It’s also really important these scammers get exposed and their scam techniques become well known, millions of dollars flows their way each year from unsuspecting victims, yet they have no care for the people they exploit and fleece of funds.
Thanks again for your detailed comment, I’m sure it will help others reading this security news also.