Fake gift card surveys. I’ve seen more of these scams the last month or two. The email messages claimed to be from Amazon with “Amazon Coupons” as the subject. Examination of the messages revealed sender addresses having nothing to do with Amazon. Like from amazon@someothersite.com. Encoded (indecipherable) links in the bodies of the messages went to strange sites. Message bodies contained gibberish.
These survey scams appear on social media sites as well, e.g., on Facebook. There’s also a CVS survey / coupons scam.
How can you tell if the message is a scam? Well, there’s the tease itself — something for nothing, eh. If the promotion really was from Amazon, you’d see the offer when logged into your Amazon account. If you impulsively open such a message, at least check any embedded links (you know how to do this, correct?).
Getting your personal information isn’t the only downside to these scams, as they can involve other bogus offers, malicious Web sites, and malware.
And regarding malware. It’s not always easy to tell if your PC’s been infected, but this PC World article provides some tips: “Does your computer have malware? Here are the telltale signs.”