Cyber Tips Cyber Insurance 101

Tis the Season: Avoid Online and Holiday Cyber Scams in 2025

This holiday season, digital fraud and cyber scams will be more costly, more personal and more believable than ever. Here’s how to shop safe and protect yourself and your family online.

When you’re hunting for the perfect gift this holiday, the last thing you expect is a cyber scammer hijacking your festive cheer. Unfortunately, cyber crime is now a booming business and the holidays are prime time.

By the end of this year, cyber scams will cost Canadians over $5.7 billion and the world $10.5 trillion. That means you’ll be shopping for holiday gifts at a time when cyber scams are more profitable than the global illegal drug trade. Canadians have already lost more than $640 million to cyber scams in 2024, with one in two falling victim to email, text, phishing, impersonation or ID-theft scams.

During last year’s peak holiday shopping window from US Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, digital fraud attacks in Canada jumped 51%, a TransUnion® study shows.

“Scams during the holidays are often the same tricks cyber criminals pull throughout the rest of the year, but with a holiday theme,” says Neal Jardine, BOXX Insurance’s Chief Cyber Intelligence and Claims Officer. “When people are rushed and stressed, they tend to let their guard down more easily. It’s the perfect time for cyber fraudsters to take advantage of your giving spirit too. Everyone’s a target.”

BOXX is here to help consumers stay vigilant and secure their online activities this holiday season as part of its mission to help individuals and businesses predict, prevent, insure and recover from cyber threats.

Common Holiday Scams to Watch out For

1. Gift-card scams

Gift cards remain one of the easiest and fastest ways for cyber criminals to turn deception into dollars.

“Scammers sometimes place a barcode sticker over the real one on the back of the card so your funds load to their card instead,” Jardine says.

He recommends never trusting when someone asks you to pay them with gift cards and using BOXX’s tips to detect and resolve gift card scams. 

2. Holiday-themed e-cards

Holiday-themed emails or “digital greeting cards” often contain malicious links designed to steal credentials.

“Clicking on those links gives cyber scammers easy access to your personal or work devices and networks,” says Jardine. 

To stay safe, always verify e-cards directly with the sender before clicking.

3. Fake online stores, flash sales and social media holiday scams

Fake websites, false flash sales and festive social media ads impersonate legitimate retailers to trick victims into stealing their identity or payment information.  

During October and November, phishing emails promoting Black Friday deals spike nearly 500%, while Christmas-themed emails jump 314%. With so many offers flying around, it’s easy to let your guard down. Only half of shoppers consistently verify the authenticity of messages, leaving many vulnerable to scams disguised as real deals. 

“Don’t trust what you see in your feed. Double-check URLs and go directly to the retailer’s app or official website instead,” Jardine says.  

4. Delivery and shipping notification scams

With packages on the move and inboxes full of alerts, fake shipping and delivery messages are thriving. Scammers send texts or emails claiming a parcel is delayed or import taxes are owed, leading to phishing sites or malware downloads.

Always verify tracking information inside the courier’s app or website, not through an unsolicited message.

5. Charity, romance and travel scams

Fake charities and romance scams surge over the holidays as fraudsters prey on goodwill and loneliness, costing Canadians over $50 million a year.

Fraudulent travel-deal sites lure bargain-hunters with photos of dream getaways that never exist.

In 2022, the FTC received over 10,000 reports of charitable solicitation fraud, costing victims $21 million – a 150% increase from 2019. 

It’s especially important to protect the seniors in your life from these type of scams, says Jardine. Older Canadians are targeted at twice the rate and are more likely to suffer financial losses from digital fraud and cyber crime.

AI-driven social engineering: Why 2025 is different

AI-powered scams including deepfakes are already changing how people shop online, with consumers reporting AI fakes are far more convincing than ever.

“What’s different this year, is that AI is making scams hyper-personal,” explains Melanie Bean, Claims Manager. “Beyond grammar-perfect emails, attackers are using AI to map who works and hangs out with whom, then crafting messages that look like they came from people you actually know. It’s social engineering through exploiting real relationships.”

Across North America, deepfake fraud increased by an astonishing 1,740%. One in 10 people have already received an AI-generated voice clone and 77% of them lost money in the scam.

Alarmingly, two-thirds of people can’t tell AI audio from real speech and almost half fail to spot deepfake AI videos.

With an average of 75 breaches a day in Canada and the fact AI can now crack a weak password in a single second, many Canadians should, and do, feel on edge.

Yet while over 80% of Canadians say they’re worried about being hacked or defrauded online, more than half of internet users don’t use privacy tools to safeguard their personal data.

Cyber Protection and Insurance Help You Shop Safely Online 

A few practical habits can make a big difference:

Shop through trusted sources: Don’t click on links in emails. Use official websites or apps and double-check URLs for “https://” and security indicators like a padlock icon.
Secure your connection: Avoid public Wi-Fi for transactions; use a VPN or mobile data.
Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication: In conjunction with a VPN, it adds an extra layer of security and protects passwords.
Use a password manager: Use unique passwords generated and secured by a password manager.
Keep software and apps updated: Patches close the security holes scammers exploit.
Monitor your Credit, ID and Password breaches: Use credit and ID theft monitoring tools like Equifax, as well as ID and password breach monitoring services with Cyberboxx® Assist, both of which are all offered in every Cyberboxx® Home policy to detect fraudulent activity early and prevent ID theft.
Talk about it. “Educate yourself, family and employees about common scams. Five minutes of cyber chat with your grandparents, partner or kids could save thousands,” Bean says.
Get cyber insurance and support – “Cyber insurance isn’t just about financial coverage. It’s about peace of mind and having experts on your side when things go wrong,” Bean says. BOXX offers complete, all-in-one insurance and protection for individuals and businesses. That means you’ll get financial protection and a suite of Cyberboxx Assist tools and services, like dark web monitoring and attack surface management, to predict, prevent and recover from cyber threats.

If you think you’ve been scammed

Scams thrive on silence and victim shaming, so many people don’t even report incidents.

If you suspect you’re a target, report it to the CAFC and your bank immediately. Change passwords, reset MFA settings and monitor your accounts for unusual activity.

“Cyber crime succeeds when people feel too embarrassed to speak up. Normalize digital protection and recovery,” Bean says. “You call the fire department when there’s a fire; you call our Hackbusters® team when you suspect a digital scam or breach. They’re able to mitigate 80% of claims before they even happen.”

Be politely sceptical

This holiday season, give yourself and your loved ones the gift of healthy scepticism, Bean adds.

“If it looks too good to be true, it usually is. Verify before you click, pay or share. Cross-check deals in official retailer apps. Treat every gift-card request as suspect. And take a few minutes to help someone you know understand the newest scams. A little vigilance now can save a season’s worth of stress.”