Holiday Shopping Scams to Avoid

Scam alert –  Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays – and there’s no place like online for scams.  These are the top online shopping scams to know about and avoid this holiday season.

Buyer beware of these efforts to rip you off and ruin you holiday. Some of these scams are year-round, some become extra-active during gift-buying season.

Remember the rule – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

General rules to avoid online scams –

• Never click on a suspicious link. Always go to the official website of a business.
• Check the spelling carefully.  A URL may be one letter off or have some grammar error – such as Macys instead of Macy’s with an apostrophe, or Fedex instead of FedEx.
• Or – like one scam email I received recently, advising to click here with my “informations”.

Fake Deals on Gaming Consoles

Scammers are advertising incredible deals for popular consoles such as XBOX and PlayStation on social media. Once you click the link, it takes you to a look-a-like website of a major brand. Any gifts purchased will never arrive.

How to Avoid:

• Triple check the spelling of the URL.  Fake sites are often one letter off, or a Capital Letter where lower case letter should be.

Fake Gift Card Scams

Gift cards are a great holiday gift, and people can save money by purchasing gift cards from resale sites like GiftCards.com. However, scammers are on these sites selling gift cards that arrive with no balance.

How to Avoid:

• Do a reverse search before buying gift cards from another person to verify their identity.

Social Media Holiday Deals

Scammers are advertising holiday deals on sites like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Once you click on the link, it takes you to a look-a-like website of a major brand, however, it is fraudulent, and any gifts purchased will never arrive and credit card or bank information will be stolen.

How to Avoid:

• If the social media account claims to be from a major brand but has few followers it is a scam.

Romance Scams

During the holidays, many of us feel lonely, whether or not we are surrounded by family, and turn online looking for connection.

Romance scammers are especially active around two holidays – Christmas/New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.  They often use stolen photos of an attractive suitor, shower them with love and affection, and begin asking for money.

How to Avoid:

• Perform a reverse image search to confirm their identity.

Social Media Influencer Free Holiday Giveaways

Scammers create fake Tik Tok and Instagram accounts to impersonate popular social media influencers.

They offer free product giveaways and include a link to redeem the product. It is a phishing link that steals all of your data.

 How to Avoid:

• Fake accounts have few followers and/or spelling errors. Never click on any suspicious links.

Fake Shipping Notifications

Scammers are capitalizing on the increased number of packages delivered during the holidays by emailing or texting a delivery notification with a “tracking link.”

Ditto for emails from the Geek Squad or similar advising that your subscription has been renewed – I’ve gotten at least a half dozen of those since Black Friday. This is a phishing link used for identity theft.

How to Avoid:

• Track packages only on the official UPS, USPS, DHL or FedEx websites.

Secondhand Store Scams

Consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are increasingly buying discounted holiday gifts from secondhand stores such as The RealReal and Poshmark.

Scammers are on these sites offering amazing deals if you pay off the App via gift cards or cash apps.

How to Avoid:

• Most resale sites have solid security policies if you pay within the App.

Fake Puppy Sites

Who doesn’t love a sweet puppy?  The scammers know this and take advantage.

According to BBB data, nearly 10,000 scam reports and complaints have come in during the last three years about “businesses” selling puppies and dogs. The FTC estimates that only about 10 percent of victims report these crimes, so this number could be much higher.

How to Avoid: 

• Ask for proof, including
• Check the AKC (American Kennel Club) website for more warning signs and tips.

Check Your Credit Card Bill

Always keep receipts, at least until you receive your bill, just in case there’s a fraudulent charge.  All the credit card companies have systems for disputing a charge.

How to Avoid:

• Beware of extra charges for an additional item you did not purchase.  

Find more online shopping advice on the federal government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency website.

If you are the victim of a scam or attempted scam report it to the FTC, IC3, FBI and IdentityTheft.gov.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as 1st VP of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA) and is a former Board Member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW)

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.

Also follow my NYC website, NYC Travel Guru

Copyright (C) 2022 Evelyn Kanter