Stay Alert – Phishing Emails Disguised as Invites

It's exciting to be invited to a party, and scammers know this. Unfortunately, they're exploiting that excitement and targeting your FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) with phishing emails that appear to be party invitations.

These phishing emails spoof the look of legitimate invitation platforms like Paperless Post, Evite, and Punchbowl. They might even come from someone you actually know — such as a former coworker, old college friend, or a relative — whose email account was compromised. That can make them significantly harder for you to identify them as fake.

The party invitation scam that's going around now can work in either of these ways:

• The link appears dead when clicked, but the click itself quietly triggers malware that harvests your passwords and personal data in the background.
• The link works, and asks you to enter your login credentials, which then hands hackers full access to your personal accounts.

One recipient of this type of phishing email saw what looked like a Punchbowl invitation from her sister, so she clicked the link. When the website prompted her to enter her Gmail password, she became suspicious and contacted her sister, who confirmed her email account had recently been hacked.

How can you protect yourself from becoming the victim of this scam? You may be able to spot a phishing attempt by hovering over links without clicking. Legitimate invitations should direct users to official domains like paperlesspost.com, evite.com, or punchbowl.com — not unfamiliar or misspelled web addresses.

In general, be cautious of unexpected invitations that show up in your inbox. Even if the message appears to come from someone you know, it's best to confirm with them directly via a call or text. Scammers are gaining access to email accounts and sending fraudulent invitations from compromised contacts. If you encounter this party invitation scam, you're asked to report it to the platform being impersonated and to the FTC at ReportFraud​.ftc​.gov.