The holiday shopping season is peak time for scammers and hackers looking to get the hands on your hard earned money, presents and even identity.
If you’re not careful, you can fall into one of the many traps these scam artists set. The good news is most holiday shopping scams follow predictable patterns. If you know what to look out for, you can avoid them altogether.
Here are 7 of the most common holiday shopping scams and how to avoid them.
1. Phishing Email Scams
These are the gold standard when it comes to stealing your personal information. They typically look like emails sent from trusted websites, but are actually forgeries. The concerning part with these types of email scams is the criminals running them are getting more and more creative. Watch for emails notifying you of an expensive purchase with a link for you to dispute or cancel the transaction. Other times you might receive an email asking you to confirm personal account details or it could result in your account being closed. The common thread between all these phishing scams is the scammers want you to enter your personal information. That info is then harvested and used fraudulently or sold on the dark web.
Your best defence is to never click links in emails you weren’t expecting. Instead, manually type the web address into your web browser to confirm whether the action requested is legitimate or not.
2. Fake Shipping Notices
If you do a lot of shopping online, you may run into this type of scam. It’s a form of a phishing that looks like an official email from UPS, FedEX or the U.S. Postal Service notifying you of a delayed delivery. The message might include a link to track your package. But, when you click the link, it downloads a virus to your computer. Always check the sender email and if it looks fake, don’t click any of the links in the email.
If you’re expecting a package and want to confirm tracking details, login to your shipping company’s website and check there first.
3. Cloned Websites
Nowadays it’s easy for scammers to clone a website and make it look like a site you know and trust. Be careful when clicking through emails to websites to make purchases. Often times, hackers aren’t even looking to capture your credit card information. The cloned website might ask you to login and then immediately redirect to a legitimate website. Once the criminal has your login credentials, now they can access your account and start spending your money. Always double check the URL in the link. Sometimes it’s subtle but you can typically tell the difference between Amazon.com and Amazon-654321.com
4. Phony Charities
It’s sad that this still happens but it’s the reality. More people are in the giving spirit during the holiday season and scammers are well aware and ready to take advantage. You might see fake GoFundMe pages for what looks like good, legitimate causes. Be very choosy who you donate money to online. Do your research and avoid making donations over the phone to unsolicited callers. If you want to give to a GoFundMe page, try to keep it local or personal.
5. Fake Classifieds
Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and eBay are all great places to find good deals, but they lend as playgrounds to con artists as well.
If you decide to buy from one of these marketplaces, always make sure you meet in a public place. Avoid products that need to be shipped, especially if it’s a local classified ad, that should be your first red flag. And always try to deal in cash, avoid money orders and cheques.
6. Fake Letters from the North Pole
If you want to get your children or grandchildren a letter from Santa, make sure you use a reputable company. Sadly, there are some fraudsters out there who will take your money and run, even for a simple offer like this.
7. Coffee Shop Breach
Never do any of your Christmas shopping on public Wi-Fi. Coffee shops and libraries are hotbeds for hackers to intercept data. They can easily gain access to your account passwords, payment information and more. To keep yourself safe, use a virtual private network (VPN) to add a layer of encryption and protection to all your browsing and online shopping. There are several good VPN providers, ranging from free to a few dollars per month. Find one that meets your demands and use it whenever you make purchases online.
Just be on the lockout. Double check and do not open a link or reply to something that you are not sure off or looks suspicious!