The gift shopping season starts early for thieves, with Halloween posting the highest number of car thefts for any holiday, followed by New Year’s, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reported. Meanwhile, online criminals remain hard at work throughout the holiday season, with the Better Business Bureau warning consumers that new seasonal scams are already underway. For instance, some callers are asking victims to use Green Dot Money Pak Cards to pay fees in order to claim phony prizes. Both online and traditional shoppers face an increasing number of scams to beware of this year. Because online shopping is seen as the best method in buying practically every and any item, it is important that all online shoppers are aware of the risks associated with buying online, 5% of UK online shoppers have no preferred payment method which can mean that they may use any process to check out their purchases, not realizing that it could be a scam.
Guarding Your Smartphone
A Harris International survey of 2,000 consumers revealed that 40 percent rarely or never use a password to unlock their smartphones. A thief stealing a holiday shopper’s unlocked phone could access the owner’s stored credit card information through an app for a retail site. While doing your shopping, make sure you protect your phone with passwords and other identity verification tools such as fingerprint scanners. Other basic security steps include selecting a hard-to-guess passcode, setting your phone to auto-lock after periods of inactivity, enabling data erasure after a number of failed log-in attempts, and disabling features that can be accessed without using passcodes, such as voice dialing and SMS previewing.
Online Safety
The Harris International survey also revealed that 57 percent of online shoppers click on links to visit merchant sites instead of accessing them directly by typing in URLs or navigating through search engine results. This practice exposes shoppers to the risk of visiting fake sites designed to resemble legitimate vendors and lure visitors into providing sensitive information, one of the most popular online scams.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified several main categories of online holiday scams to avoid. One type uses an online classified ad or auction to offer a product the seller doesn’t have, typically luring the buyer into paying through an untraceable wire transfer, or alternatively yielding sensitive information such as a Social Security Number. Popular variations in this scam involve offering heavily discounted goods or gift cards.
Due diligence into a site’s reputation and return policy, plus avoiding wire transfers or sharing of sensitive personal data, will help prevent this from happening to you. Employing an identity protection service such as Lifelock.com can provide you with additional security through threat detection and Internet surveillance. Should you fall for one of these scammers, however, it’s important to go through the relevant protocol with regards to your personal information like your phone number, any passwords, and other sensitive information that could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. If your Social Security number has been stolen in this process, you should report this immediately to one of the Delaware Social Security office locations, or the Social Security office closest to you.
At the Store
AARP warns consumers against another gift card scam that can happen while you’re shopping in a store. Some thieves stalk untended display counters to copy gift card codes, then use them later after you’ve paid for them. To avoid this, only purchase gift cards at staffed customer service or check-out counters. As for retailers and business-owners, it is best for them to buy bulk gift cards for their patrons, but only from reliable websites or dealers who are known to provide genuine ones only.
Don’t Forget Your Home and Car
Finally, don’t forget to guard your home and car while you’re out shopping. According to the FBI, 400,000 home burglaries a year occur in November and December, when homes and cars are stocked with gifts. Leave a light on when you’re not home, and keep your car locked with your purchases hidden.