The holidays are the busiest, most distracted time of year for most small businesses. Inboxes are overflowing, people are covering for coworkers who are out, and everyone is moving fast. Scammers know this. It is exactly why the weeks between Black Friday and New Year’s are peak season for holiday cyber scams aimed at small businesses.
The good news: almost none of these attacks are sophisticated. They work because they catch busy people off guard, not because the criminals are brilliant. Once you know what to look for, they get a lot easier to stop.
Here are the holiday scams hitting small businesses right now, and what to do about each one.
1. The “urgent request from the boss” gift card scam
This one is a classic for a reason: it works. An employee gets an email or text that looks like it is from the owner or a manager. The message is short, urgent, and a little vague. “Are you at your desk? I need you to grab some gift cards for a client, I’m in a meeting and can’t talk.” By the time the employee realizes the boss never sent it, the cards are gone.
The holidays make it more believable because gift cards are a normal thing to be buying. Attackers also lean on authority and urgency so people act before they think.
How to stop it: make it a rule that any gift card or payment request gets verified by phone or in person, every time, no exceptions. A real boss will never be upset that you double-checked.
2. Fake invoices and vendor payment changes
Year-end is invoice season, and scammers blend right in. They send a fake invoice that looks like a vendor you actually use, or they pose as a supplier and email to say their “banking details have changed, please update before the next payment.” Pay it once and the money is gone, usually for good.
This is called business email compromise, and it is one of the most expensive scams out there for small businesses.
How to stop it: never change payment details based on an email alone. Call the vendor at a number you already have on file, not the one in the email, and confirm. Slow down on anything involving where money goes.
3. Shipping and delivery phishing
“Your package couldn’t be delivered.” “There’s a problem with your order.” During the holidays, everyone is waiting on a delivery, so these fake texts and emails get clicked far more than usual. They lead to a login page or a form built to steal credentials or card numbers.
How to stop it: don’t click links in delivery notifications. Go straight to the carrier or retailer’s website or app and check your order there. If your team uses shared shipping accounts, make sure everyone knows the rule.
4. Spoofed login pages
A lot of holiday phishing has one goal: get you to type your password into a fake page. The email looks like Microsoft, Google, your bank, or a tool your team uses every day. The link goes to a page that looks identical to the real login. You type your password, and now they have it.
How to stop it: turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere it is offered, so a stolen password alone is not enough to get in. And train your team to check the web address before they ever type a password.
5. Seasonal staffing gaps
This one is not a specific scam, it is the condition that makes all the others work. Over the holidays, people are out, temps and seasonal help are in, and approvals that normally go through two people suddenly go through one tired person at 4:45 on a Friday. Attackers count on it.
How to stop it: keep your normal verification steps in place even when you are short-staffed, and make sure seasonal or temporary workers get a two-minute briefing on what a scam looks like before they touch email or payments.
The one habit that beats almost every holiday cyber scam
Notice the thread running through every scam above: urgency. “Act now.” “Before end of day.” “The boss needs this immediately.” Urgency is the tool scammers use to shut off the part of your brain that would otherwise notice something is off.
So the single most effective defense is simple: when a message creates pressure to move money, change a payment, or hand over a password, slow down and verify through a channel you trust. That one habit, taught across your whole team, stops the overwhelming majority of these attacks.
Frequently asked questions
Why do scammers target small businesses during the holidays? Small businesses are busy, often short-staffed, and usually have fewer security safeguards than large companies. The combination of distraction and fewer checks makes the holidays a high-success window for attackers.
What is the most common holiday scam against small businesses? Gift card requests and fake vendor invoices (business email compromise) are among the most common and most costly, because they go straight for money and rely on busy employees acting quickly.
How can I protect my business without a big IT budget? Three low-cost habits cover most of it: turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere, verify any money or password request through a trusted channel, and give your team a quick heads-up on what these scams look like. Most of the damage comes from gaps that are free to close.
What should I do if an employee already fell for one? Act fast. Change the affected passwords, turn on multi-factor authentication if it was not already on, contact your bank if money moved, and have someone review what the attacker may have accessed. The sooner you respond, the more you can contain.
Don’t make it easy for them this holiday season
Most of these attacks succeed for one reason: no one was watching, and everyone was busy. You do not need a big budget or an in-house IT team to close the gaps that matter. You just need to know where they are.
Want to see how exposed your business is right now? Take our free 2-minute security check. You will get a score and a short list of where to focus, no login required.
👉 Take the free security check: https://cmhworks.com/cybersecurity-assessment/
And if you would rather have someone handle it for you, from training your team to watching your systems and your website, that is exactly what we do. Reach out anytime.
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