If you think you are the victim of any type of scam, you can contact your local consumer protection or law enforcement agency to report it. — Pixabay
Falling victim to a scammer during the holiday season can damper your spending cheer, especially if you lose real dollars.
If you think you were targeted, now is the time to report it.
The FBI says every year after the holiday season, its Internet Crime Complaint Center receives an influx of scam reports from unsuspecting shoppers who didn’t notice any trickery until it was too late.
By then, victims likely handed over sensitive personal or banking information and may even have sent hundreds of dollars to digital thieves that may be difficult to track down.
Experts say the holiday shopping season is a particularly vulnerable time, when thousands of people across the US fall victim as they’re furiously hunting for online deals or waiting for packages to arrive. In 2024, two types of common holiday-time scams, non-payment and non-delivery hoaxes, led to more than US$785mil (RM3.2bil) in losses, while credit card fraud accounted for nearly US$200mil (RM811.50mil), according to the FBI.
Fake shipping alerts – texts or emails about deliveries that appear to come from trusted carriers like Amazon or UPS – are an especially common scam in November and December that often go unnoticed during the flurry of holiday preparations.
“Convenience, speed and so-called efficiency, while generally positive goals, can result in financial harm if a shopper does not proceed with caution,” said Chris Garcia, an attorney in the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office’s consumer protection division.
“Because online shopping is on the rise and last-minute shoppers may be in a hurry or distracted, they are vulnerable,” he said.
As you peruse your bank and credit card statements for holiday charges and double check that all of your packages made it to their destination, here are some common scams to watch for.
Bogus discount sites: These are fake online stores with cheap deals, AI-generated reviews and stolen product photos that trick you into turning over your credit card or banking information or paying for items that never ship. Often, the fake stores pose as real ones but have slight misspellings in their urls and lack basic company contact information.
Non-delivery scams: You bought an item or paid for a service online, but it’s never shipped or delivered to you and the seller doesn’t give you a refund, disappears or makes excuses. These often involve fake listings for popular or difficult-to-find items at prices far below market value.
Receiving items in the mail that you didn’t order: This is also known as a “brushing scam,” where a seller sends you unsolicited knock-off merchandise such as rings and electronics to get your personal information. The scammers then write fake online reviews in your name to help boost their sales.
Phony charities and donation scams: Scammers pose as charities or solicit donations, often exploiting real tragedies or organisations, but the money isn’t used for the intended cause. These usually include highly emotional or urgent-sounding stories and requests for cash, gift cards or other untraceable payments.
Gift card fraud: Scammers ask you to pay for an item with a prepaid card, trick you into buying gift cards and sharing the codes, or you buy gift cards that have been tampered with or aren’t loaded with the amount you paid.
Non-payment scams: You don’t receive payment for an item or service that you ship or provide because the buyer didn’t send it or they ask you to refund what they claim is an accidental overpayment.
If you think you’re the victim of any type of scam, you can contact your local consumer protection or law enforcement agency to report it.
Locally, you can also call the National Scam Response Centre at 997.
If you find fraudulent charges on your financial accounts, dispute them with your bank or credit card companies. Ask gift card companies to replace stolen money and challenge bad transactions on payment platforms.
To avoid falling victim to shopping scams, authorities recommend you:
– Don’t click through any web links or call numbers you get through unsolicited email or texts.
– Don’t buy items through social media ads.
– Double check urls to make sure you’re visiting a company’s real website.
– Watch out for deals and rock-bottom prices that seem too good to be true.
– Keep a record of your purchases and shipping information, including delivery dates and tracking numbers.
– Only donate to verified charity organisations and buy from trusted websites.
– Slow down, think and verify before handing over any payment or personal information. – The Wichita Eagle/Tribune News Service
