Scammers unleashing hell through holiday campaigns

As the travel industry continues to heavily promote holiday deals, scammers also plunged into the trend with spammed malware campaigns using holiday hooks.

Flight confirmation emails are the top lure this season, followed by hotel deals, extravagant cruise packages and vacation loans.

In season, holiday spam can reach up for up to 6% of all spam according to Bitdefender, who says a regular “business spam day” can total as many as 1.8 million messages.

Airline confirmation emails or receipts made up nearly 60% of all summer holiday spam this year, mainly through attachments or links to dangerous webpages. We've all seen them.

For those who love a bargain, and let's face it who doesn't?, fake newsletters promoting early-booking bargains at luxury vacation destinations across the globe were the second biggest scams of the year.

Cruise packages, travel insurance offers and holiday loans are also used to bait people planning the perfect summer escape.

To protect yourself, check out some tips on how stay safe while planning and enjoying the perfect holiday:

· Research the website you’re using before you book a flight or make a hotel reservation.

· Look what other people have to say about a certain ticketing / booking website. Read their comments and feedback on that site’s services.

· Try to get in contact with a representative of the company, who can provide you with as many details about the seat or the vacation venue as possible.

• Do not click links embedded in e-mails that pop up in your inbox if you haven’t specifically asked for travel offers or flight reservations. And never open files attached to these e-mails.

• When you leave for the vacation of your dreams, don’t announce it on social networks. An empty house can be extremely tempting for burglars. Securing your virtual world can help secure your physical one.

• Avoid shopping online or checking e-banking and credit accounts when using public WiFi hotspots such as those in airports, coffee shops or malls. Don’t do it via the hotspot in your hotel either.

Have you been scammed before, during or after a holiday? Tell us your experiences below