Avoid Holiday Scams This Christmas Season!

Just because the Christmas season is a joyous and wonderful time of the year, doesn’t mean you don’t have to look out for scammers trying to play the Grinch to your holiday festivities. With the flux in holiday shopping and charitable donations, holiday scammers will try and capitalize on the hustle and good will of the season. So don’t let a scam ruin your holidays and be on the look out for these potential scams.

Look Out For Fake Charities

Christmas is certainly the season of giving, and fake charities try to capitalize on that good will to cash out on your generous donations. Scammers will try calling, passing out leaflets, and contacting you first to trick you into donating to their “good cause”. If you are looking to donate over the holidays, it is best to work with charities you are familiar with, and have done research on, to make sure your donation dollars are actually going to help others. You can even use sites like charitynavigator.org to see what others have to say about a charity!

Don’t Fall For Phony Package Delivery Notifications

As you receive packages from friends and family, some scammers have developed technology to send you realistic package notifications that request your personal information. You can avoid giving over personal information over to a delivery notification scam by confirming with your local post office that the notification is real.

Avoid Holiday Vacation Scams

Sometimes a tropical holiday sounds like the perfect getaway, especially as cold weather moves in. But be on the look out for “too-good-to-be-true” deals to exotic locations, as scammers will build out fake travel sites to steal your personal information. If you are looking to travel over the holidays, be sure to do so through well known travel sites such as Expedia, KAYAK, or Orbitz.

Be Aware Of Must Have Gift Scams

Every year there’s that it gift that everyone has to have. And whether it’s the cutest new stuffed toy, or the coolest new technology, scammers will create sites advertising that they have the rare item at an unreasonably low price in an attempt to steal your information. Similar to the scams above, be sure to only purchase gift from reputable sources, and avoid any shady pay portals and unknown shop names.

Other Warning Signs

Be on the lookout for any of the following signs of a scam!

• Unbelievable discounts on hot ticket items or travel.
• Poor grammatical structure and misspelled words on the site.
• Any organization that doesn’t list a physical location or phone number.
• Any sites that do not include a privacy policy.
• Any unsolicited emails asking for personal information or requiring click through links to confirm delivery.

There’s so much to love and enjoy about the Christmas season that you don’t want to ruin the fun and joy by having to deal with a holiday scam. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be sure to have a scam free and Merry Christmas.