With the holiday shopping season upon us, it is likely that you have your list in hand, money in your pocket, and a plan for finding everything you want and need.
As exciting as it may be to shop during this time of the year, this can soon turn to disappointment if you find you have become the victim of a scam.
Every year, unsuspecting individuals fall prey to a variety of holiday shopping scams. Here are several that you should be on the lookout for this year:
- Hot gift scams. Everybody knows there are certain items that receive more attention than others. For this reason, these are often times in low supply. Subsequently, scammers begin to prey on those who will do anything to make a purchase. When you stick to reputable online and local stores, you don’t have to worry about being scammed. It is when you begin to purchase from little known online stores and third party sellers that you are taking a risk.
- Email scams. If you think you get a lot of email spam during other times of the year, wait until the holiday shopping season is in full swing. You will receive one email after the next, all of which play up the fact that they have something to offer that you won’t want to pass by. Simply put, you should never click on a link in one of these emails. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
- Point of sale breaches. It is hard to categorize this as a scam, as it is truly more than that (it is a major crime). As you know, many of the top retailers in the world, including Target and Home Depot, have faced point of sale security breaches over the past year or so. This is the perfect time of the year for hackers to attack, so make sure you check your debit and credit card statements often.
The holiday season is supposed to fun. This includes the time you spend shopping online and locally for loved ones. Now that you are aware of these three common scams, you should be able to avoid trouble.
