Cyber felons are going into holiday overdrive, according to a post by Gmail.

"Since mid-November, we've seen a massive surge in email traffic compared to previous months, making protecting inboxes an even greater challenge than normal," Gmail states.

The big three holiday scams are:

- Fake invoices that typically try to solicit phone calls from victims to dispute the charges, and then attempt to convince them to pay.

- Fake celebrity endorsements to build trust and lure people in. They either pretend to come from the celebrity, or claim the famous person is endorsing a product.

- Elaborate extortion schemes that start by shocking victims with personal details. For instance, victims may receive emails with details on their home address, and in some cases a picture of the location. These generally include threats of physical harm or threats of releasing damaging personal material supposedly acquired through a hack.

There is reason for cheer, however. Gmail has new security procedures that have led to a 35% reduction in phishing and malware scams. Millions of dangerous messages have been blocked before they reached inboxes.

Gmail has also developed several AI models, including a large language model (LLM) that it has trained to deal with phishing, malware and spam. "By spotting patterns and responding rapidly, this LLM alone blocks 20% more spam than before and reviews 1,000 times more user-reported spam daily," Gmail claims.

"We're thrilled with this progress, but we typically see a second wave of attacks around this time in the holiday season as attackers adjust and try new things," Gmail concludes."And we'll adjust with them, continuing to add new protections to keep inboxes safe. It's equally important for you to stay vigilant and report any suspicious emails as spam or phishing."