AARP estimates 75% of U.S. consumers, “have experienced or been targeted by at least one form of fraud that can be tied to the holidays,” according to a new report.
“It's not if we're gonna get scammed, it's when we're gonna get scammed,” Alex Juarez, AARP Arizona’s communications director said.
Americans lost an estimated $6.9 billion to cybercrime last year, according to areport from the FBI.
Scammers continuously evolve, Juarez said. With rising inflation, they are targeting bargain hunters and people looking to save money.
“The scammers know that this is a global economy, and everybody's hurting,” Juarez said.
“So, they are going to take advantage of it. They're going to show big discounts. Obviously, a big discount is going to catch our eye," she added.
The holiday season also gives more ammunition to scammers, Juarez said, as they ramp up “to really match the seasonal spikes in the spending and the web traffic.”
Juarez pointed to a number of scams currently circulating.
“These requests include requests from charities, online shopping scams, fraudulent communications about shopping problems. And most of the scams are variations on everyday types of fraud,” he said.
The goal for scammers, according to Hilary Donnell, head of corporate social responsibility and public affairs at Aura, a consumer cybersecurity company is to steal personal information or money. Many times, personal information is stolen through fraudulent links sent via email or text message.
“The goal of getting you to click on that link is to steal your personal information or to install a virus on your device that will steal your information,” Donnell said.
During the holiday season, Donnell said the “shipping tech scam” pops up regularly.
To pull off the shipping tech scam, scammers send text messages that look like they are from a legitimate mail carrier like the United States Postal Service (USPS), Donnell said. The text may urge a person to click on a link within the text message, or face potentially losing their package.
USPS calls this scam “Smishing” or the Package Tracking Text Scams. On its website, USPS notes, “The Postal Service offers tools to track specific packages, but customers are required to either register online, or initiate a text message, and provide a tracking number. USPS will not send customers text messages or e-mails without a customer first requesting the service with a tracking number, and it will NOT contain a link.
So, if you did not initiate the tracking request for a specific package directly from USPS and it contains a link: don’t click the link!”
Fake charity scams are also prevalent, especially during this time of year, Donnell said.
“So, you might get a phone call or an email from someone asking you to donate to a charity,” she said. Before donating via phone or email, verify the charity’s legitimacy on the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Guide or search for the charity via Charity Navigator.
Donnell also suggested making a donation on the charity’s official website, rather than a third-party page. And when doing any online retail transaction, use secure payment methods like a credit card or PayPal.
“If they're asking for a Venmo or wire transfer or a Bitcoin or other crypto payment, those are big red flags that they are likely fake websites,” Donnell said.
Other red flags that point to a fake website are spelling errors or grammatical mistakes, according to Juarez. If someone asks for a Visa gift card or something similar, Juarez said to consider it an automatic red flag.
Gift cards are nearly impossible to track, making them ideal for scammers.
“That's probably one of the biggest ways that scammers take advantage of folks out there,” Juarez said.
To protect your information online, Donnell said to make sure websites begin with “https” rather than “http.” “Https” indicates a website is secure.
“A good indicator is if there's a little lock icon in your browser,” Donnell said. “If there's a little lock icon, it means the site is secure.”
Scamming doesn’t begin or end with the holidays. That’s why Donnell wants people to remember, scams can appear anywhere.
“But generally speaking, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.
For more information, visit AARP’s Fraud Watch Network or call 877-908-3360.
