Avoiding Holiday Scams
Tis the season for giving - and buying! With more people shopping online than ever before there are also more scammers. What should you look out for to keep your finances safe this holiday season?
Shopping online is a breeze. Just a few clicks and all of your wants and needs end up at your front door. Another aspect of online shopping you may think about less is scams. Scammers are everywhere online but if you follow a few best practices when shopping you should be able to keep your finances safe!
Pay With Credit Card
When shopping online you should always pay with a credit card, not a debit card. This is a best practice you should stick with past the holiday season.
The reason is that you have more protections with a credit card than you do with debit due to the Fair Credit Billing Act. If your information is stolen or you purchase something and never receive it you can dispute the charge and often won’t be held responsible to pay it right away (or ever if the dispute is approved). Debit on the other hand has fewer protections and the money comes out of your account right away, so you might end up losing money if you fall victim to a scam.
Research Charities
A big part of the festive season is giving money to charities to help people in need. Before giving make sure you look up the charity on a service like Charity Watch to make sure the money goes to the right place. People can create charities that sound like ones you trust to fool you into giving money. There are also charities that say they give money to people in need but actually end up only passing along pennies. It’s better to know that it is going to the right place before giving!
Be Careful With Gift Cards
Gift cards make great gifts, but they also are a great way to scam people. When purchasing a gift card always make sure you are doing so through a reputable source. Also be sure to never pay someone in a gift card - this is a common scam because once it’s handed over you have no recourse to get the money back. Try and avoid second hand gift card websites as well. These sites connect people with gift cards they don’t want to sell to other people who want them but this is an easy transaction to take advantage of.
Be Wary Of Phishing Emails
We’ve all gotten emails that are a little… off. If you get an email from Amazon or Apple (or any other company you buy from) and it looks odd make sure you look at the email address it is sent from before clicking. Simply click the sender email and make sure it is coming from the actual website. Many phishing emails will say “Amazon” in the sender field but when you click on it to view the address it ends up being “sh22436@scam.ru.” If you are ever suspicious simply take a minute to look before clicking any links and entering in any personal information.
This goes for personal emails as well. If you get an email from someone you know that is off don’t click anything. Simply ask the person in a separate email if they sent you something.
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