PHOENIX — Whether you plan to brave the crowds on Black Friday or prefer to shop from home on Cyber Monday, the Phoenix FBI office is reminding all of us to watch out for scams this holiday season.
The FBI says scammers use the holidays to their advantage, whether it’s trying to steal people’s credit card information as they shop, or even going as far to create fake websites or charities for people to put their information into.
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"It's important to educate our family and friends because scams impact people of all ages," Mary Gleason with the FBI said.
Gleason supervises fraud investigators and says some simple ways to protect your information is to never click on links sent from unknown numbers or emails, or put your payment info directly into websites.
“Use a third-party payment system, such as a pre-loaded debit card that has a definite amount so you're not going to go over that," Gleason said. "Or use PayPal, Apple Pay, or Android Pay, that way your credit card information is not entered into every single site.”
It's also not recommended to make purchases over publicly available Wi-Fi, like at coffee shops or libraries.
The FBI says they get over 2,000 reports of internet crimes every single day. If you think you have been the victim of an online scam, you can report it here.
