The FBI offers advice on how to avoid being scammed this holiday season.
Here are some prevalent scams that people should watch out for this time of year:
- Non-Delivery Scams – A buyer pays for goods or services they find online, but those items are never received.
- Non-Payment Scams – Goods or services are shipped, but the seller is never paid.
- Auction Fraud – Involves a seller deliberately misrepresenting the condition or quality of an item on an auction website.
- Gift Card Fraud – Scammers can steal numbers and security codes from gift cards in stores and wait for them to be activated, or consumers can be asked to pay for goods or services with a pre-paid card.
In addition to these scams, people should be on the lookout for phishing, smishing, vishing, spoofing, and pharming while shopping for gifts online this holiday season.
Source: Pittsburgh FBI Office Issues Holiday Scam Warning
