Party Invite Email Scam: How It Works And How To Avoid It

’Tis the season for invites for summer cookouts and graduations, but unfortunately, bad actors know this too. Watch out — you might just get cordially invited to a scam.

In late May, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning that people have been receiving unexpected “You’re invited” texts and emails, which are known as phishing scams. This is when scammers pretend to be someone they are not in order to get your valuable personal and banking information through unsolicited text messages or emails that you click. They often do it by pretending to be someone official, like a government agency or a package delivery service. Or, in this case, someone sharing a summer alumni event or a graduation you might want to attend.

In these fake emailed invites, an email or text will look similar to an actual online invitation you would see through platforms like Paperless Post or Evite. It may even use the same branding and formatting. But unlike a legitimate invite, this one will require you to share your email username and password to view the full event details. The FTC alert noted that, “Some messages tell you to enter a phone number and share a special code to RSVP.”

Giving up your real password, phone number or email is how scammers win.

Once this scammer knows your real account information, they can use this to fool other people in your contacts, too. There have been instances where scammers impersonated distant connections –– like a parent of a child’s classmate –– to send a fake-looking party invite to people in their network.

Amy Nofziger, the director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, said this is a seasonal scam, and she’s currently seeing an uptick in people reporting fraudulent party invites. In the last week alone, five people said their personal accounts were compromised after they clicked on a seemingly legitimate party invite.

In one case, “the caller clicked the Evite and provided her password, and now anytime the caller does anything on the internet, she gets redirected to a weird website,” she said.

“The reason why this works is, who doesn’t want to be invited to a party and feel included in something,” Nofziger said.

To avoid being fooled, stay suspicious of any random invite you didn’t expect to receive from a friend or random neighbor.

One red flag is when the invite feels like it could have been written by anyone. A real party invite will include details that only your best “Type A” friend who has a dress code and a list of parking options could share.

“The best way to tell the difference is that a scam is generic, but a real gathering today is highly specific,” Evite told HuffPost in a statement about what scams look like from its site.

You should always double-check that the domain name matches the one in the email you’re receiving. Evite has a post showing what a real Evite should look like, noting that real Evites only come from the evite.com domain.

And know that sharing your personal email and password isn’t a normal RSVP. If an invite requires you to “Enter your email” in order to see the whole event details, that’s not typical. Paperless Post, for example, states that no login or download is required to view one of their party invites and their invites do not include attachments.

If you’re worried you just got duped by a fake party invite, you can report your party invite to the brand. For Paperless Post, this email account is [email protected]. You can also report the phishing invite to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

But one of your best protections is to use your head. Text your friend directly if you get a random invite from them.

“With all scams, it’s just really important to just take that pause, and really look at it for what it is,” Nofziger said. “Assume it’s a scam until proven otherwise.”

If you click a suspicious link, immediately change your password and update your account details. Add two-factor authentication to your passwords so it’s harder for someone to gain control.

And if you’re planning to do a fun summer gathering in the next few weeks, give your friends and family notice, so they know when it’s normal to expect an invite from you.

“If you know that this scam is going on and you’re about to throw a party, maybe just say to people, ‘Hey, heads up, I’m going to be sending you a party invitation,’” Nofziger said.