Five Scams to Look Out for This Holiday Season
This holiday season, your identity and hard-earned money are on scammers’ wish lists. The FBI in San Francisco is warning everyone, especially those who plan on shopping or making charitable donations this year, to be especially vigilant. They say scammers are exploiting the busy spending period by deploying increasingly sophisticated tactics to try and trick you.
Holiday Scams
Here are the top five scams that you need to watch out for and safety tips to keep yourself safe:
- Online Shopping Scams: From fake websites and unrealistic discounts, scammers can easily steal your credit card information and gain access to your account.
- Safety Tip: Always verify websites and offers before heading to checkout.
- Safety Tip: Always verify websites and offers before heading to checkout.
- Charity Scams: Scammers pretend to represent real charities or make up their own through calls, emails, crowdfunding platforms, and social media.
- Safety Tip: Verify charities through trusted sources and avoid making donations through gift card or wire transfer.
- Safety Tip: Verify charities through trusted sources and avoid making donations through gift card or wire transfer.
- Cryptocurrency Investment Scams: Investors beware! Scammers often pose as trusted individuals and can convince you to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms, leaving you with zero gains and no way to get your money back.
- Safety Tip: Do your research before investing and always make sure to secure your accounts with strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication when available.
- Safety Tip: Do your research before investing and always make sure to secure your accounts with strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication when available.
- Gift Card Scams: Be wary of anyone asking you to buy them a gift card to help in an alleged emergency, work-related function, or as payment.
- Safety Tip: Be skeptical of requests and if you receive a gift card, check for signs of tampering.
- Safety Tip: Be skeptical of requests and if you receive a gift card, check for signs of tampering.
- Social Media Scams: Watch out for social media giveaways. Scammers often offer fake gift cards, event tickets designed to steal your information, or duplicate barcodes for resale.
- Safety Tip: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always make purchases through a trusted source.
- Safety Tip: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always make purchases through a trusted source.
Stop the Grinch – Report Fraud
If you believe you are a victim of a scam, the FBI urges you to:
- Immediately contact your bank or financial institution.
- Report the incident to law enforcement.
- File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov.
Source: FBI San Francisco Warns of Holiday Scams Targeting Shoppers and Donors