Scam email tries to trick you by claiming your TSA PreCheck is about to expire

Diane Wilson Image
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
TSA PreCheck scam email out to take your money
Don't fall for it! Scammers are at it again, this time looking to trick you about your TSA PreCheck status.

While millions of travelers take to the skies this Thanksgiving holiday, scammers are trying to get your money and identity by claiming your TSA PreCheck status is about to expire.



Crane Hassold Director of Threat Intelligence at Abnormal Security says scammers are sending phishing emails to unsuspecting travelers claiming their TSA Pre-check is about to expire and asking them to fill out a form with personal information to keep their TSA PreCheck active.



This is what the scam email looks like.




Besides asking for personal information, Hassold says the scammers' biggest goal is to get your money.



"It asks you to pay $140 for a supposed application fee that gets paid through PayPal. They're just simply trying to make money in any way they can, and this is a great example of some of the pure social engineering that we see every single day that cybercriminals are using," Hassold said.



That's a big red flag, as the official TSA website allows you to pay with a credit card and only costs $85.00. Hassold says the scam email contains a link that directs you to a different website than the official government TSA website. You can look at the URL and see it does not end in .gov.



This is what the fake website looks like.




Remember scammers just aren't impersonating the TSA, they will pretend to be with any legit company trying to get your money and personal information.

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