Being a seasoned web and software developer, I got fooled
A Real Example That Slipped Past My First Instinct
Today I ran into a phishing scam that was dressed up as a friendly Christmas greeting. It came from someone I know well, which is why it slipped past my first instinct. Scammers are becoming more sophisticated, and even people with a technical background can be momentarily caught off guard. That alone should tell us how many people are being exploited who do not have the same level of awareness.
The message arrived through Facebook Messenger and simply said that a friend had sent me a “surprise message”. At this time of year, we expect cards, greetings and animations, so there was nothing unusual about the context.
The First Screen: Cute, Harmless, and Designed to Lower Defenses
The first page showed a cartoon Santa sitting between two wooden doors with a bright arrow that said “Touch this”. It looked like a children’s game or an animated holiday card.
There were no warnings, no login boxes, no pop-ups, nothing aggressive.
This is deliberate. Scam designers use soft onboarding: they begin with something innocuous to lower your vigilance and get you to follow the steps without overthinking. The theme also exploits seasonal priming. December conditions us to lower our guard because we expect cheerful, informal messages.
The Second Screen: Personalisation, Trust, and Emotional Engineering
The next screen displayed the sender’s name in colourful letters, along with a festive banner and a
Personalisation is one of the most powerful psychological triggers in social engineering. When a site uses a name you recognise, your brain shifts into a trust mode. The scammer knows this. They rely on you thinking, “Of course this is from my friend, their name is right there.”
At this stage, the scam still appears completely harmless. You are gently shepherded deeper into the trap.
The Trap: When I Clicked the Name Field, My Browser Tried to Autofill My Credit Card
This is where everything changed. When I clicked the “Enter your name” field, my browser automatically offered my stored credit card information and Google Pay.
That was the moment the red flag appeared. My immediate thought was: Why would I have to pay to read a message from a friend?
This is an advanced trick scammers use. They design form fields to mimic payment fields, triggering your browser’s autofill menu. Most people don’t realise the site does not know their card number — it’s the browser trying to be helpful. But this psychological effect is powerful. Seeing your card appear creates a false sense of legitimacy.
Fortunately, once I saw the payment suggestion, I closed the page immediately.
Why This Scam Works So Well
What makes this phishing attempt successful is the combination of emotional familiarity and technical deception. Here are the key elements:
- It uses a trusted friend’s compromised account. You’re more likely to click without hesitation.
- It uses seasonal imagery. December greetings lower defensive awareness.
- It uses personalisation. Seeing your friend’s name tricks your brain into trusting the page.
- It delays the danger. The scam doesn’t show anything suspicious until you’re already engaged.
- It manipulates browser behaviour. Autofill is weaponised to create the illusion of legitimacy.
All of these work together to increase the probability that someone will complete the payment step. This is classic social engineering.
Connected Mind Analysis: How This Fits the Unified Theory of Probabilistic Connections
Viewed through the lens of the Unified Theory of Probabilistic Connections, this scam is a perfect example of how behavioural vertices connect and shape outcomes.
- Trust vertex: The message originates from someone familiar.
- Contextual priming: Holiday themes create emotional openness.
- Familiarity vertex: The sender’s name reinforces perceived legitimacy.
- System feedback loop: Browser autofill creates a misleading validation signal.
- Pathway collapse: The moment critical thinking returns, the harmful pathway ends.
This event demonstrates how human cognition, environmental cues, and system behaviours interact probabilistically to shape a user’s decision process — and how scams exploit these natural pathways.
What Everyone Should Know
- You should never pay to view a message from a friend.
- Autofill appearing on a screen does not mean the site knows your card.
- If something suddenly asks for payment, close it immediately.
- If a message looks slightly “too fun”, “too cute”, or out of character, verify with the sender first.
- If a friend’s account sends unusual links, tell them to change their password.
Final Thoughts
Scammers rely on predictable human behaviour. They exploit trust, timing, design, and system features. If this one almost passed my radar, it will absolutely fool someone who isn’t used to online threats. Sharing information is one of the most effective ways to reduce the success of these scams.
