Christmas 2025

Merry Christmas Humbug from Canada’s Wet West Coast.

What’s with the humbug? That’s the hook – I’d like you to read this thing.

OK friends, this is a Christmas letter with a difference. I had written the usual happy little missive but just scrapped it for something more important.

SCAMS and HACKS.

When we were kids we may have thought the Grinch was the worst. Or maybe that grumpy Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge – not a pleasant character – upset your cheery Christmas vibe. But today’s Christmas demons are worse. And they don’t just raise their ugly heads at this time of your. They are the hackers and scammers – malicious fraudsters messing up your life.

They have a bunch of sneaky methods to mess with our Christmas cheer but here’s one.

The scammers hack a friend’s email account. You receive an email that looks like it’s from that friend. The email asks – do you use Amazon? Unsuspecting, you answer yes. Most of us do use it from time to time.

The reply from your fake friend comes fast. The scammer, posing as your friend, has a sob story about wanting to buy a gift card for Christmas for a niece or whoever, but the damn bank has declined their card. Life as your friend knows it will end if you don’t help. Never mind the suffering the poor niece will endure. The request is urgent. You follow directions, buy the card, send it to the niece’s email address and voila – you’ve been SCAMMED.

Here’s the thing. You could have, should have, checked – you should always check. Is that email REALY from your friend? Had you checked the reply-to email with more care you would have noticed a different address. For instance your friend might have a Gmail account that looks like xxx99@gmail.com but the reply-to email might read something like xxx99@outlook.ca. That’s one clue. But there are others.

Is the salutation the same? I have a friend who always ends her e-mails with P. Just P. If I get an email that looks like it’s from her but has a different salutation – guess what – it’s not from her.

How about the obvious. Is your friend the kind of person to hit you up for a $400.00 UberEATS gift card? Yes or No? If no, that’s a clue not to be ignored. If yes – well how generous but that’s out of my league.

So, here’s what you might like to do. Send your friend – NOT a reply but a new separate email. “Hey friend, did you just send me an email asking for …. whatever.” Your horrified friend will take whatever action they deem fit. Maybe warn their contact list, contact their provider, change their passwords.

Then you could report the scam – how you do that depends on your email provider: you may have a junk or report spam button or something similar.

You could also report it to cyber.gc.ca

If it’s something threatening or scary – you could call the cops.

There are things you MUST NEVER do:

Never hit reply. NEVER NOT EVER because when you do, the scammer knows your email account is active and can start with the pressure tactics. Have fun dealing with that.

Never click links. NEVER NOT EVER click links. No link clicking.

Never provide personal information – including financial information. NEVER NOT EVER.

With the advent of AI, the scams are becoming more sophisticated and more frequent. We, the users have to know how to guard ourselves. So be suspicious dear friends. Read your emails with care. Be discerning.

Now you too could be hacked. Oh no! Oh Yes. Some scammer could use your account to take advantage of your kind-hearted naive friends by posing as you. 

There are ways to mitigate that problem too. Make yourself more hack-proof. It's sort of like locking your car door after parking. Especially important when your car is filled with Christmas gifts or groceries.

Have strong passwords, change them from time to time, and where offered, use two factor authentications.  

Consider the amount of personal information you post on social media. Yup, AI aids the scammers by taking samples of your voice, noting your friends’ names and who your family members are, what your birthday is, what grandma’s birthday is – all that stuff we put out there is eligible fodder for scammers.

Set your account to block spam emails. Report and block spams that break through your settings.

Of course, the more we do to protect ourselves, the more sophisticated the hacks and scams become … ho hum.

Here’s my promise to you. I will NEVER NOT EVER hit you up to buy me a gift card or anything else on Amazon or anywhere else on the internet. If you ever get an email or call like that – it’s not me. Report the scam, let me know. Then wait until the next one hits your inbox.

On that happy note.

I wish you a very merry hack-free and scam-free Christmas and best wishes for 2026.

Yup – this is it – this is your Christmas card. Sorry Canada Post and sorry to you too if you really wanted a card on your mantle that you’ll consign to the recycling in a couple of weeks.

Cheers

Kim, Lacy, Ginger, Licorice, Midnight and Moonbeam

PS – I really hope all of you have had a marvelous year – happy, healthy, productive. Mine has been all those things.