November 3, 2025

Last December, an accounts payable clerk at a midsize company got a text from her “CEO”:

“Buy $3,000 worth of Apple gift cards for clients, scratch the backs, and e-mail the codes.”

It sounded odd, but it was peak holiday chaos. The sender’s name matched her boss’s, and urgency overrode instinct. By the time she double-checked, the cards were gone, the scammer had cashed out—and the company ate the loss.

That scam stings, but others can cripple a business. That same month, Luxembourg-based Orion S.A. wired $60 million to cybercriminals after receiving what looked like routine transfer requests from a trusted partner. The result? More than half its annual profits vanished.

If you think your business is too small to target, think again.
🎁 Gift-card scams alone cost U.S. businesses over $217 million in 2023.
📧 Business-email-compromise (BEC) attacks made up 73% of all cyber incidents in 2024.

The holidays are prime time: staff are distracted, stressed, and moving fast.

⚠️ 5 Holiday Scams Your Employees Need To Know

1. “Your Boss Needs Gift Cards” — The $3,000 Text Trap

The scam: Impostors pose as executives and pressure staff to buy gift cards for “clients.” In Q1 2024, 37.9% of BEC incidents involved this trick.
Prevention: Enforce a written policy—no gift-card requests by text or e-mail. Require two approvals for any purchase.

2. Invoice & Payment Switch-Ups — The Big-Money Play

The scam: Fraudsters send “updated banking details” or hijack vendor threads during year-end billing. Arlington, MA, lost nearly $500 K this way in 2024.
Prevention: Confirm all banking changes via a verified phone number already on file.

3. Fake Shipping & Delivery Notices

The scam: Phishing texts pose as UPS/FedEx/USPS asking to “reschedule delivery.”
Prevention: Never click links—type the carrier’s URL directly or use bookmarked tracking pages.

4. Malicious “Holiday Party” Attachments

The scam: Attachments titled Holiday_Schedule.pdf or Party_List.xls install malware.
Prevention: Disable macros, scan attachments, and verify any unexpected file.

5. Bogus Holiday Fundraisers

The scam: Fake charity or “company-match” campaigns steal donations or data.
Prevention: Circulate an approved-charity list and route all giving through official portals.

🧠 Why These Attacks Work (And How To Stop Them)

Scammers exploit the same tools that make business efficient—e-mail, online banking, digital payments—plus insider knowledge about your org.

Companies running phishing simulations cut risk by 60%.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) blocks 99% of unauthorized logins.
Yet most SMBs still rely on passwords and one-off awareness talks.

✅ Your Holiday Cyber-Defense Checklist

  • Two-Person Rule: Any transaction above your set limit needs verbal confirmation via a separate channel.

  • Gift-Card Policy: No requests by text or e-mail, ever.

  • Vendor Verification: Confirm payment changes by phone.

  • Multifactor Authentication: Turn it on for e-mail, banking, and cloud apps.

  • Team Briefing: Share these five scams and review real-world examples before year-end.

💸 The Real Cost: More Than Just Money

While Orion’s $60 million loss made headlines, smaller companies often suffer more:

  • Operations halt during peak season

  • Productivity dives during cleanup

  • Customer trust erodes after data exposure

  • Cyber-insurance premiums spike

The average BEC incident costs $129 K—enough to sink a small business over the holidays.

🎁 Keep Your Holidays Merry, Not Messy

The holidays should mean growth, not wire-fraud cleanup. A 15-minute staff huddle and a few simple policies can stop million-dollar mistakes.

Remember: One phone call could have stopped Orion’s $60 million loss.
Your team can prevent the next one.

👉 Schedule your free security assessment today and we’ll show you practical steps to lock down your systems before the New Year.

Because the best gift you can give your business this season is peace of mind.