Common Holiday Scams and How to Avoid Them… Be Careful This Holiday Season!
It’s that time of year, where all your focus is on your quest to shop for gifts, decorate your home, and survive the gauntlet of holiday parties. But don’t let your ambition for discounts and seemingly great seasonal opportunities blind you to some common scams that tend to pop up in these final weeks of the year.
The busy shopping season comes with increasingly aggressive and created scams designed by criminals looking to steal not only your money, but your personal information. In order to protect yourself, here a few common holiday scams a few tips you should keep in mind.
Package Theft
Online shopping makes things easier for consumers — and for thieves.
About 23 million Americans say they have at some point had packages stolen from their doorsteps, according to an insuranceQuotes.com report released Wednesday. (The survey, conducted by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International, sampled 1,000 U.S. adults.)
If the holiday season wasn’t stressful enough — thanks to gift-shopping and the extra family time — consumers may also want to take additional steps to ensure gifts or other items don’t disappear before they are delivered. The holiday season is prime time for thieves, scammers and identity thieves who hope to cash out as people become preoccupied with gift-buying, festivities and travel.
How to protect yourself: People can get packages delivered to their office, a local pick-up area, like a UPS Store or an Amazon Locker or schedule delivery times when they know they’ll be home, if possible, says Laura Adams, a senior analyst for insuranceQuotes.com. Online shoppers should also set up tracking notifications so they know exactly when an item is delivered in case it goes missing, she says.
Data Breaches
It’s hard to think of a retailer that hasn’t been breached since Target’s TGT, +1.21% 2013 holiday breach kicked off an avalanche of hacks. And experts say if you can think of one, it’s probably because the company hasn’t discovered its breach yet.
More than half of shoppers (52%) are concerned about identity theft this holiday season, according to a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers by the credit union TransUnion. And they should be: The holiday season is prime time for scammers and identity thieves who hope to cash out as people become preoccupied with gift-buying, festivities and travel.
How to protect yourself: The best way is to use cash, but only 20% of holiday shoppers plan to do that, according to TransUnion. If you’re in the majority and will be paying with plastic, use a credit card, which offers more protections than a debit card in the event of fraud. And if you want to make it easy to keep track of all your purchases on just one statement, keep a separate, low-limit credit card for online shopping so you can scan one account for fraudulent transactions. Using services like PayPal can also lower the risk of your card information being lost in a retailer’s breach.
Social Media Scams
Those posts offering vouchers or gift cards for popular products are probably not a good idea, even if your friend shared it with you. Some might be fake holiday promotions or contests that lead consumers to answer an online survey designed to phish their personal information.
How to protect yourself: Don’t post tickets of events you’re attending on social media, either, as scammers might use those barcodes to create fake tickets for resale.
Malicious Links
E-cards, fake advertisements for deals, infected attachments and links to phony websites disguised as Christmas cards: Scammers have many routes to attack your devices. Fake notifications about package delivery problems are common during the holidays, says Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance.
How to protect yourself: Don’t click on links in emails about package delivery problems — return to the original order confirmation and find your package’s tracking number. Then enter that tracking number into the website you made a purchase from. “It does require that little extra step,” Kaiser says.
Counterfeit Items and Online Shopping Scams
Shoppers looking to score a deal may land on unfamiliar websites advertising special prices, Kaiser says. Some unfamiliar websites may be scam centers, he says, luring shoppers with alleged sales on items that may never arrive. Phony websites could be after consumers’ personal information, or infect users’ computers with malware to steal their credentials when they log into banking websites later on.
How to protect yourself: If you are purchasing items from an online retailer you’ve never tried before, Google the website and look for reviews, Kaiser says. Look for reviews on Yelp, the Better Business Bureau or even search the retailer’s name and “scam” to see if it checks out. Consider the customer service options the website offers if you experience any problems with your order. Do this research before entering your personal and payment information on the website.
Fake Checks and Free Gift Offers
Websites may offer free gifts if you “click here,” and letters in the mail could ask for personal information in exchange for a $500 check.
How to protect yourself: Believe us: People you don’t know don’t want to give you free money. Remember the adage that there ain’t no such thing as free lunch. Similarly, the emails and shared status updates on social media saying “click here for your free gift” are likely phishing schemes or malware-laden, and letters asking for an advance payment to receive your free check for thousands of dollars are bogus. The only gifts you’ll get for the holidays are from those you exchange them with.
Gift Card Fraud
Swindlers copy the codes off the back of gift cards before they’re purchased and then wait for them to be activated to drain the funds.
How to protect yourself: Try to purchase gift cards from behind store counters, and check preloaded cards to ensure they’re still loaded. Look at the back of the card to ensure the area with the protective scratch-off is intact.
Fake Charities
Holiday season is a time when charitable organizations often collect donations from consumers looking to spread some holiday cheer. But beware of phony charities that may call or send letters in hopes of cashing in on your holiday spirit.
How to protect yourself: Research the charity before donating (try charitynavigator.com or the Better Business Bureau). If you opt to contribute to an organization, go to its website to enter your payment information instead of giving it away over the phone.
(Citation: Anand, Dec. 2015 and Quirk, Nov. 2016)