Scammers target online shoppers, charitable contributions during holiday season

InvestigateTV - Product shortages and increased online shopping are likely to produce a spike in scams this holiday shopping season, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Josh Planos with the BBB said online shopping scams accounted for nearly 40% of all reports to the BBB Scam Tracker in 2021.

Planos had several suggestions to avoid scams:

• Be wary of any company that asks for personal information right away
• If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is
• Look for misspellings or bad grammar on websites and in emails
• Use extra caution around email solicitations
• Look for “https” at the beginning of a url and a small lock icon to ensure websites are secure
• Be suspicious of anyone asking for non-traditional payments like gift cards and cash apps

Steve Carlson from T-Mobile cautioned consumers to be on the lookout for scam calls this holiday season.

Carlson explained that this time of year is ripe with phone scams from fraudsters pretending to be charity organizations. He had two main tips to avoid these scams:

• Be wary of any charity asking for donations over the phone
• Verify the identity of a charity and their contact information before making any donation

You can report scams to the BBB Scam Tracker or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Report Fraud website.

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