Is moonelegant.com Safe? Top 3 Home Depot Scams
Author: Trend Micro
This article is from Trend Micro.
As many people have started decorating their houses for Christmas, home decoration/houseware stores are seeing their normal yearly surge in footfall. Home Depot is one of the biggest, but be careful — scammers are out with tricky phishing text messages and fake websites to try to exploit you and ruin the holiday fun. This article will introduce some of the latest Home Depot scams and a few helpful tips to protect yourself. Let’s go!
Top 3 Home Depot Scams
#1 Fake Home Depot website: moonelegant[.]com
Recently a website that looks just like the Home Depot one has appeared, and it’s got many people wondering: is it legitimate? Well, the short answer is: NO! It’s a SCAM!
Although the site looks genuine, it is 100% not!
Note: The real Home Depot website is homedepot[.]com. Always look closely at URLs to make sure you’re on legitimate websites.
Legitimate online shops have standard processes regarding refunds and disputes, but fake online shops don’t. There is no way to contact the sellers. What’s worse, victims could end up having their personal information sold on underground forums or the dark web.
Do you know how to spot a fake online shop? Here are some red flags:
- Too-good-to-be-true deals.
- A strange web address.
- Lots of 5-star (but seemingly irrelevant) customer reviews.
- Acceptance of uncommon payment methods (wire transfer/mobile payment apps) only.
- Unreasonable requests for detailed personal information.
- Typos and questionable wordings on any of the pages.
- A lack of valid contact details on the site.
For more tips on spotting fake online shops, check out this article.
#2 Home Depot “We have a WINNER” Lottery SMS Phishing
Posing as Home Depot, scammers have been sending people text messages saying they’ve won their lottery campaign. Victims need to click on embedded links to claim their “rewards”:
- /-/HOME DEPOT We have a WINNER” CID#32875–_<URL> Send 0 to STOP
The links are phishing links, and if you click on them and follow the prompts, you will eventually end up inadvertently exposing your personal information. Scammers can record any credentials you enter on the pages you visit through their links and use them to commit identity theft!
#3 Home Depot $100 Credits Giveaway SMS Phishing
Again, scammers pretend to be from Home Depot, falsely claiming that you can get $100 in credit as part of their customer giveaway campaign. Don’t click on the link!
- Home-Depot: Customer Appreciation Giveaway 100$ credits for customer ID” 16566 <URL>
How to Protect Yourself
- Shop only on legitimate online stores.
- Double-check the sender’s mobile number.
- Free gifts or prizes are always a major red flag.
- NEVER click links or attachments from unknown sources. Use Trend Micro Check to combat scams with ease! (It’s 100% FREE).
Trend Micro Check is an all-in-one browser extension for detecting scams, phishing attacks, malware, and dangerous links – and it’s FREE!
After you’ve pinned Trend Micro Check, it will block dangerous sites automatically! It is now available on Safari, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.
Check out this article for more information about Trend Micro Check.
Don’t forget to add an extra layer of protection to your device with Trend Micro Maximum Security! It includes Web Threat Protection, Ransomware Protection, Anti-phishing, and Anti-spam Protection to help you combat scams and cyberattacks. Click the button below to give it a try:
As ever, if you’ve found this article an interesting and/or helpful read, please do SHARE it with friends and family to help keep the online community secure and protected.
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