Holiday scams affects thousands of individuals each year. Scammers may steal your money, your identity, and, at the very least, your good cheer.
Key points
Non-delivery and non-payment fraud are the two of these holiday scams that are most common.
A buyer pays for products or services they discover online but never receives them in a non-delivery scam. In contrast, a non-payment scam is the shipment of goods or services without any payment to the vendor.
People lost more than $337 million as a result of non-payment or non-delivery frauds, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s (IC3) 2021 report.
There were further losses of $173 million due to credit card theft.
During this time of year, you should be on the lookout for scams including gift card fraud and auction fraud, in which a product is misrepresented on an auction website.
Each year, the IC3 receives a lot of complaints in the first few months, which may be related to the shopping frauds from the previous holiday season.
Stock photo of a person using their smartphone to enter their credit card information.
If You Have Been Duped
Call your bank or credit card provider. Refute any erroneous allegations.
Reach out to the police in your area.
Contact the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov to report the fraud.
Advice on How to Avoid Holiday Scams
There are several methods to safeguard yourself—and your wallet—whether you’re the buyer or the seller.
Maintain excellent cybersecurity practises.
Please refrain from clicking any dubious links or attachments found in emails, websites, or social media. You are tricked into clicking links and disclosing personal information, like your name, password, and bank account number, by phishing scams and other related crimes. You could unintentionally download viruses to your device on occasion.
If a business requests that you change your password or account details, use extra caution. You should independently look out the company’s phone number and give them a call.
Know who you are selling to or purchasing from.
Verify each website’s URL to ensure that it is trustworthy and safe. A website where you are making a purchase should begin with https. Don’t enter your information on that website if it doesn’t.
When making a first-time purchase from a firm, do your homework and read customer evaluations.
Before making a transaction, be sure the buyer or vendor is legitimate. Check the feedback rating of any online marketplace or auction website you use. Be cautious of buyers and vendors who have largely negative or no feedback ratings.
Avoid buying from merchants that portray popular products as manufacturer representatives or authorised dealers in nations where such arrangements are not possible.
Be aware of sellers who advertise or post an auction as though they live in the United States but then react to inquiries by saying they are abroad due to a work trip, a family emergency, or other similar excuses.
Avoid customers that ask for a certain shipping method to avoid paying taxes or customs inside another nation.
Pay attention to how you pay.
Never send money to a seller through wire transfer.
Don’t use pre-paid gift cards as payment. A vendor will request your gift card information and PIN in these frauds. The fraudster will steal the money from the gift card and not use it to pay for your purchase, so you’ll never get your goods.
When making purchases online, use a credit card, and keep an eye on your account balance. If you notice a questionable transaction, get in touch with your credit card provider to contest the charge.
Observe the shipping procedure.
Get tracking numbers wherever possible for online purchases so you can confirm shipping and track the delivery of your purchases.
When you are selling, be wary of any credit card purchases where the cardholder’s address does not line up with the shipment address. Before sending out any orders, always get the cardholder’s approval.
