Scammers Love the Holiday Shopping Season

Scammers love this time of year. People are distracted, in the most intense shopping season of the year, and looking for the best deals. Easy pickin's for scammers. They use "hooks" to lure in their victims, like offering a free or cheap iphone 5 or LCD TV - things that people desire and are looking for. But these are just the hooks. There is no iphone "prize" or deep discount, there is no TV. The scammer is either trying to get cash out of their victims (small shipping fee or taxes) or they seek to steal identity information by getting people to fill out surveys that ask the user to provide WAY too many details about their themselves - account numbers, passwords, social security numbers.

Be VERY careful because in addition to all the legitimate "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" sales, scammers will also be putting up fake pages and sending out fake emails targeting these phrases and trying to trick unsuspecting people to respond to their fake ads.Yes, we want great deals online, but check and double-check and triple-check you are really at the right website and not a fake website. Do not go to websites via links in emails, even when they offer a great deal. That deal can also be found, if it is real, by opening a new browser and typing in the main url yourself and search around for the holiday specials. Yes, it is extra work and not as convenient as just clicking on a link in an email, but it is SO much safer.

And on the other side of the equation are all the small businesses selling online during this season - scammers also run their fake buyer scam as often as their little keyboard typing fingers can send out the emails. Sellers: NO WIRE TRANSFERS! I can not emphasize this enough. Do NOT use wire transfers under ANY circumstances. Scammers *need* this in order to steal your cash and disappear without a trace. Do not accept any checks or credit card payments for more than the amount or agree to forward money to anyone in behalf of a buyer via wire transfer. Just do NOT do it!

Gift cards - this is the season for scammers to try and sell gift cards that have been stolen and are worthless. This is super rampant this time of year. If its not properly activated at the store register, it is a worthless piece of plastic. Don't buy these from sources you don't know, don't buy gift cards on Craigslist or eBay, don't buy "discounted gift cards" from some third party, and if you get a gift card, check at the register FIRST to see its value and if its valid before shopping.

Yes, the season of shopping will kick into high gear this week... but also be on the lookout, because scammers also kick into their high season of trying to steal money from people.