11/28/2022 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/28/2022 13:17
Published: November 28, 2022
When shopping online during the holiday season-or any time of year-always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. Do your part to avoid becoming a scammer's next victim.
Every year, thousands of people become victims of holiday scams. Scammers can rob you of hard-earned money, personal information, and, at the very least, a festive mood.
The two most prevalent of these holiday scams are non-delivery and non-payment crimes. In a non-delivery scam, a buyer pays for goods or services they find online, but those items are never received. Conversely, a non-payment scam involves goods or services being shipped, but the seller is never paid.
According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center's (IC3) 2021 report, non-payment or non-delivery scams cost people more than $337 million. Credit card fraud accounted for another $173 million in losses.
Similar scams to beware of this time of year are auction fraud, where a product is misrepresented on an auction site, and gift card fraud, when a seller asks you to pay with a pre-paid card.
The IC3 receives a large volume of complaints in the early months of each year, suggesting a correlation with the previous holiday season's shopping scams.
Whether you're the buyer or the seller, there are a number of ways you can protect yourself-and your wallet.
Practice good cybersecurity hygiene.
Know who you're buying from or selling to.
Be careful how you pay.
Monitor the shipping process.
And remember: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.