Scam-o-Meter: Halloween’s scariest trick — phishing emails disguised as treats

Key insights

Recent research reported in Security Magazine[1] reveals how aggressively criminals exploit Halloween to run email phishing campaigns, one of the most common types of phishing:

• 63% of Halloween-themed spam detected last year between mid-September and mid-October was outright phishing or scams designed to steal credentials or money. Only 37% was benign marketing. 
• The United States received 73% of all Halloween-themed spam globally. This means that American shoppers are the number one target. Germany and Ireland were distant runners-up at 13% and 6%.
• 67% of Halloween-themed spam originated from United States servers. Criminals are running coordinated phishing email campaigns that impersonate trusted brands, promising limited-time deals, free items, or exclusive gifts.
• Phishing scams don’t stop at email. Researchers found sponsored ads on Facebook and Instagram. Some of those ads promoted fake giveaways, while others pushed malware disguised as legitimate downloads. Even when the platforms removed these fraudulent ads, a lot of them reappeared under new accounts within hours.

Halloween works so well for scammers because people are already expecting promotions and are less skeptical. Brands increase their marketing, which makes impersonation easier to pull off. When your inbox is full of seasonal deals, one fake email can look like the real thing.

What our expert says

Halloween scams succeed because they hide in plain sight among the real season deals. Tomas Sinicki, managing director at Coveron, recommends that you:

• Never click on seasonal “reward” or “giveaway” links in emails or social posts. If you didn’t enter a contest or sign up for a promotion, you didn’t win anything. Legitimate brands don’t give away candy boxes or exclusive discounts to random email lists.
• Check sender domains and URLs carefully. A real retailer email comes from their actual domain — like “retailer.com,” not “retailer-deals-bonus-site.com.” Hover over links before clicking to see where they actually lead. 
• Avoid downloads promoted through social media ads. If an offer looks too good to be true, verify it directly on the retailer’s official website by typing the URL yourself, not by clicking through.
• Learn to recognize phishing attempts. Check out our blog post on how to spot a phishing email. 
• Monitor your identity and financial accounts if you’ve already clicked. If you suspect you clicked a phishing link, watch for signs that your credentials have been compromised — unauthorized login attempts, new accounts opened in your name, or unfamiliar transactions. Or you can use an identity theft protection service that offers dark web monitoring and credit monitoring and sends you security alerts if anything suspicious comes up.

Methodology and sources

This scam statistics was reported by Security Magazine. The research the magazine quoted analyzed Halloween-themed phishing and scam campaigns detected between September 15 and October 15, 2025.

What is Scam-o-Meter?

Scam-o-Meter is an ongoing Coveron series where we keep track of online fraud. In each installment, we look at different scam or fraud trends, break down how they work, and share practical tips on how to protect yourself. We also share the latest data, including from our own original research or that of our partners and industry specialists.

References 

[1] Staff. (2025). “Beware of tricks: Halloween scams are stealing credentials, money.” Security Magazine. https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/101987-beware-of-tricks-halloween-scams-are-stealing-credentials-money opens in a new tab