How to Protect Yourself From Cyber Monday Phishing Emails
Spot fake Cyber Monday deals fast and shop with simple checks that guard passwords and card numbers.
To protect yourself from Cyber Monday phishing emails, do not click links, open attachments, or call numbers in unexpected deal messages. Type the retailer's known address into your browser or use its own app to check the offer. Phishing emails are fake messages that pose as trusted stores or delivery services to steal passwords and payment data.
On Cyber Monday they often use flash deals, order problems, and shipping alerts aimed at busy online shoppers.
What do fake Cyber Monday emails look like?
CISA explains in its Shop Safely holiday guidance that holiday phishing emails impersonate well-known retailers and delivery services. They use fake deals, order problems, or shipping alerts. Their goal is to steal passwords and payment data from shoppers.
Common examples include a missed-delivery notice with a tracking button, an order-hold warning asking you to confirm card details, and a steep discount tied to a short countdown. The layout may copy store colors, logos, and receipts. The sender name may look familiar at first glance.
These messages target anyone shopping fast on a phone or comparing many tabs at once. They work because one tired tap can open a fake login page. Treat every unexpected Cyber Monday message as unverified until you check it another way.
How do you check a deal without clicking?
CISA advises in its Secure the Season shopping safety tips not to click links, open attachments, or call numbers in unexpected Cyber Monday messages. Type the retailer's known address into your browser or use its own app instead. That one habit keeps most fake buttons and fake phone numbers away from you.
Use these steps for each unexpected message: If the deal does not appear on the real site, delete the message. If it does appear, complete the purchase on the real site. Never reply with payment details to keep the discount.
- Leave the email or text alone and open a new browser window.
- Type the store address you already use and search for the deal there.
- Check tracking in the retailer's own app or account, not through the message link.
When should urgency make you pause?
The FTC says to treat urgent demands for personal or financial information as suspicious. Legitimate companies do not ask for Social Security, bank, or card numbers by email. A message that says act now, account locked, or pay today to release a package fits that pattern.
Polished writing no longer means a message is safe. The FBI Jacksonville office warns in its December 2025 holiday warning that holiday phishing emails may now have no spelling or grammar mistakes. Absence of errors does not prove safety.
Pause when a message asks for sensitive data, pushes a deadline, or moves you off the store site. Open the store account through your usual method and look for the same alert. No matching alert means no action is needed.
How do you make stolen passwords less useful?
CISA recommends multifactor authentication, long unique passwords kept in a password manager, and updated devices and software. Multifactor authentication means a second check, such as a code, beyond the password. A password manager creates and stores a different long password for each site.
Set this up before Cyber Monday, not during checkout. Turn on the extra login check for email, bank, and store accounts first. Those three accounts can reset many others, so they need the strongest protection.
Updates close security gaps that phishing pages try to use after a theft. Keep your phone, browser, and store apps current. Use only passwords you do not reuse elsewhere.
How should you pay and report a bad message?
CISA recommends paying with a credit card rather than debit or gift card for online holiday purchases. Check statements often for charges you did not make. Federal law limits liability for fraudulent credit charges, which adds protection if card data leaks.
If a message looks like phishing, do not reply or pay through it. The FTC and FBI guidance says to forward phishing emails to [email protected] and phishing texts to 7726, spelled SPAM. Then delete the message.
Report fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or ic3.gov with the sender address, subject line, and any link address. Save one copy of those details before you delete the message for your report.