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  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 25, 2024 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , holiday shopping, ,   

    Staying Safe Online During Black Friday 

    Staying Safe Online During Black Friday

    By Greg Collier

    As the holiday season ramps up, so do the efforts of online scammers looking to exploit the shopping rush. With Thanksgiving and Black Friday just around the corner, cybersecurity experts are urging consumers to be vigilant. The holiday shopping season, with its flurry of deals and discounts, provides fertile ground for scams designed to steal money and personal information.

    Another gift card scam is on the rise. Scammers are using the promise of gift cards to bait victims into clicking harmful links or providing sensitive information. A phishing email circulating recently uses the logo of a major warehouse club to promise a $100 gift card in exchange for completing a survey. These offers are never legitimate. If you plan to buy gift cards, do so directly from the retailer’s website or in-store to ensure you’re not being duped.

    Another area of concern this year is social media advertising. While scrolling through platforms, you may come across ads promising incredible discounts, often too good to be true. These ads can be enticing, especially during Black Friday, but they might lead to fraudulent websites. For instance, one scam has been seen using a well-known outdoor apparel brand to lure shoppers with promises of 80% off merchandise. Clicking on such ads can direct you to fake websites that mimic legitimate retailers, designed to steal your payment details or infect your device with malware. Always verify the website’s address carefully before making a purchase, as subtle differences in URLs can signify fraudulent sites.

    And since these purchases need to be delivered, another common scam involves fake delivery notifications. These scams surged in popularity last year, preying on the confusion of the holiday shopping season. Fraudsters send text messages or emails claiming there’s an issue with a package delivery, urging recipients to click a link to resolve the problem. These links often lead to malicious websites that aim to collect personal information. To avoid falling victim, keep track of your orders and their legitimate tracking numbers. Be cautious of any message that doesn’t include specific details about a package you’re expecting.

    The excitement of holiday deals can make even the most cautious shopper let their guard down. Scammers know this, which is why they ramp up their efforts this time of year. To protect yourself, approach online deals with skepticism, especially those that appear unexpectedly in your inbox or social media feed. Taking a moment to verify the legitimacy of a website or alert could save you from financial loss and stress during what should be a joyful season.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 6, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Police warn of gift card draining scam 

    Police warn of gift card draining scam

    By Greg Collier

    Gift cards are a great idea when shopping during the holiday season. If you have someone on your Christmas list who is difficult to shop for or lives far away, a gift card can be the ideal present. However, it should be known that gift cards are also prone to fraud. The fraud doesn’t come from the companies who issue the cards, nor does it come from the stores who carry them. Instead, it comes from scammers who are looking to make a quick buck at the shoppers’ expense.

    While most scams are perpetrated online these days, this gift card scam requires the scammer to have physical access to the card. This requires the scammers to shoplift the gift cards. After leaving the store, the scammers engage in a scheme where they extract the security strip from the card and capture its number. Subsequently, they affix adhesive strips to replace the security strips before strategically returning the cards to the store rack. Upon a customer loading money onto the compromised gift card, the scammers receive notifications and promptly deplete the card of its funds. Typically, customers remain oblivious to the fraud until an attempt to use the gift card is made, often weeks or even months after the initial purchase. Recovering the funds is exceedingly uncommon once the card has been emptied.

    Police in the Philadelphia suburbs recently issued a warning about this scam, as they have recently received reports of hundreds of prepaid debit cards and Apple gift cards being tampered with at a local supermarket chain.

    To safeguard yourself from falling victim to this gift card scam, consider taking the following precautions. When purchasing gift cards, opt for one from the middle of the pack, as they are less likely to have been tampered with. Thoroughly inspect the card for any signs of alteration, particularly if the security strip appears wrinkled or crooked, as these may indicate tampering. Retain the receipt when acquiring a gift card, as it can prove valuable in assisting you later if the card is found to be emptied.

    In the unfortunate event that you discover a tampered card, promptly contact the issuing company using the customer service number provided on the back of the card. While there is no guarantee of recovering your funds, taking this step can significantly expedite the resolution process.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 4, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , holiday shopping, , ,   

    New delivery scam in time for the holidays 

    By Greg Collier

    By now, many of us should be familiar with the text message delivery scam. In that scam, scammers send out text messages posing as popular delivery services such as UPS, FedEx, and even the United States Postal Service. The text message claims a delivery can’t be made to the recipient’s address, and asks the recipient to click on a link provided in the message for further instructions. Once the link is clicked, the recipient is taken to a malicious website that asks for personal and financial information, so the delivery could be made. In reality, the scammers are looking for this information to commit identity and financial theft.

    This is a popular scam throughout the year, but incredibly popular during the holiday season, when most people are expecting deliveries to their homes. Now, scammers are taking a more straightforward approach by calling their potential victims directly. The callers are identifying themselves as drivers for the various delivery services. The phony drivers claim they have a delivery for you, but can’t find your home. Then, like the text message scam, the scammers start asking for personal and financial information so they can supposedly make their delivery. If you tell them you’re not expecting a delivery, the scammers will try to tell you that you’re being sent a gift from a friend or family.

    The best way to protect yourself from this scam is to keep track of your deliveries and who they’re being delivered by. Most vendors will provide you with a tracking number from that delivery service. If you receive one of these scam calls, but still have concerns, hang up and call the delivery service customer service number from their website. They’ll be able to let you know if you’re receiving a legitimate delivery and its status. Never give out your personal or payment information, even if someone is claiming to be from a company you trust.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 6, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , holiday shopping,   

    Beware when buying gift cards for the holidays 

    Beware when buying gift cards for the holidays

    By Greg Collier

    Gift cards are one of the most talked about topics on this blog. Typically, it’s because gift cards are the currency of scammers. If someone asks you to pay them in gift cards, you’re likely being scammed. However, there is another problem with gift cards, even if you’re buying them for their intended purpose.

    Scammers and other cybercriminals will go into stores and record the information from the back of gift cards. They’ll then wait for someone to put funds on those cards. Once that’s done, the scammers will use the funds on those cards for themselves.

    This recently happened to a mother from the San Francisco Bay Area who was trying to buy Apple gift cards for her daughter. She bought a card at a supermarket and put $100 on it. When her daughter went to use the card, the funds were already gone. The mother then went to a pharmacy to get another Apple gift card, and again by the time she gave the card to her daughter it was already empty. She was eventually able to get a legitimate card from an Apple Store.

    Gift card scammers will often go into various stores and scratch the security strip from the card. They’ll document the card number before replacing the security strip with a sticker.

    There are some ways to protect yourself against this scam. First, you should always make sure the card has not been tampered with by inspecting the back of the card. Take a handful of cards from the rack and make sure they’re similarly marked on the back. Scammers will often place tampered cards up front to get the money quicker. Try purchasing a card from the middle of the pack instead.

    When buying gift cards, pay for them with a credit card whenever possible. A credit card will give you better protection against loss than if you had paid for the cards with cash or a debit card.

    If you receive a card that’s been emptied, you can try to contact the customer service number that’s on the back of the card. However, they can rarely ever get the money back or offer a refund.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 2, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , holiday shopping, , ,   

    Buying a puppy for Christmas? Watch out for these scams. 

    Buying a puppy for Christmas? Watch out for these scams.

    By Greg Collier

    Before we get started, we’d like to say that if anyone is thinking about adding a puppy to your family this holiday season, please keep in mind that doing so is a long-time commitment. Pets like this are not meant to be impulse buys and can live up to 20 years. Pet owners should always make sure they’re ready for that kind of dedication.

    Once that kind of decision is made, there are a number of pitfalls a prospective pet owner needs to be aware of before making their purchase, as the online world is full of puppy scams.

    For one, pet buyers should be wary of websites that claim to have puppies at below-market prices. A family in Richmond, Virginia, thought they were paying $700 to a website for a Yorkie puppy. They paid the supposed breeder with Walmart gift cards. When someone asks for payment in gift cards, that’s a major red flag that this could be a scam, as once the money is gone from the gift cards it can rarely ever be reclaimed.

    After the family paid the $700, the scammers came back and asked for more money. Typically, scammers will claim they need additional payment for things like shipping insurance or a specialty crate for transfer.

    Anybody can create a website claiming to be selling puppies using pictures stolen off the internet. To prevent yourself from being scammed by websites like this, you can do a whois search on the domain name to see how long the website has been around. If it’s only been around for a short amount of time, that’s a pretty good indication of a scam. You can also do a reverse image search to see if the pictures used on the website can be found anywhere else.

    A family from Greensboro, North Carolina befell a similar fate recently. A friend of theirs on social media said they were giving away puppies for a rehoming fee of $100. The family sent the fee through Venmo, but the friend claimed the payment didn’t go through and kept asking for the fee. It turns out that the friend’s Facebook page had been hijacked by scammers. It’s recommended, in this instance, to talk to the friend on the phone before sending any money. Like gift cards, once you send money through apps like Venmo, it’s gone.

    As always, when it comes to adding a new puppy to the family, we recommend only shopping locally and through reputable breeders. Contain your search to a reasonable driving distance, and do your due diligence when researching the breeder themselves. Check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints about the breeder.

    However, even more so than that, we ask that you consider adopting a puppy or even an adult dog from your local shelter. Shelter dogs are only there through no fault of their own and can be obtained at little to no cost.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 9, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , holiday shopping,   

    Is it safe to buy gift cards for the holidays? 

    Is it safe to buy gift cards for the holidays?

    By Greg Collier

    On this blog, we talk about gift cards a lot. That’s because they’re used by a multitude of scammers as an untraceable form of payment. As a matter of fact, the Federal Trade Commission recently released a report that stated at least 40,000 people lost a total of $148 million to scams that involved gift cards. Typically, these are scams that are demanding some kind of payment that supposed to prevent some kind of distress to the victim. Keep in mind that no company or agency accepts gift cards as payment unless it’s the retailer they’re intended for. You can’t pay bail with gift cards. You can’t pay your bills with gift cards. You can’t pay your taxes with gift cards. If someone is demanding that you pay them with gift cards, they are more than likely a scammer. As we are fond of saying, gift cards are the currency of scammers. But what if you wanted to buy gift cards for their intended purpose. Do you still have to worry about scams? Unfortunately, you do.

    For example, if you’re in the store looking at gift cards, make sure that the number on the back of the card isn’t already exposed. That could mean that the gift card was already purchased and out back on the shelf. Scammers will do this and wait for someone to re-purchase the card. When someone does buy the card, the scammers will quickly drain the card of the money that was added to it. Another version of this scam is when the scammers will scratch off the back to reveal the card number, then place a sticker over it waiting for someone to buy the card. In that case, compare the card with other cards on the rack to make sure the card hasn’t been tampered with.

    You may also want to avoid so-called gift card exchanges. This is where scammers will post on social media that they have a gift card for one retailer but want to trade it with someone who has a gift card for another retailer. However, after the trade is made, the victim finds out that the git card they received has little to no funds available on it.

    While gift cards are incredibly convenient for gift giving and receiving, there are many pitfalls you need to look out for, so you don’t have a complicated Christmas.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 8, 2021 Permalink | Reply
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    BBB warns holiday shoppers about PayPal scam 

    By Greg Collier

    PayPal is a great payment option when doing your holiday shopping online. You can put just the right amount of money into your PayPal account for the item you’re looking to buy and not worry about being overdrawn on your account. However, that’s not the only worry you should have when using PayPal. The Better Business Bureau has recently issued a warning about a scam that may not be new, but has picked up in activity during the holiday season.

    This particular scam happens when you go to a retailer’s website that you may not be familiar with. You may have seen an ad on social media for the perfect Christmas gift. You may have seen an ad for a hard to get item at an unbelievable price. Even better, the retailer accepts PayPal for payment. The retailer sends you your delivery, but when you open the package, it’s not what you ordered. In fact, it’s some cheap trinket that may not even cost a dollar. The problem with this scam is that PayPal allows the scam to continue in many instances. The scammers have figured out that as long as something is delivered, in most cases, PayPal will side with the seller in a dispute, essentially giving the scammer your cash.

    If you’re using a new retailer for the first time, look for reviews online. Also, do a web search using the retailer’s name and the words ‘scam’ or ‘complaint’. This should be a good indicator to see if the retailer is legitimate or not. You can also do what’s called a ‘whois’ search on the retailer’s web address. This kind of search often gives you an indicator of where the retailer is located. While it’s not a guarantee you’ll avoid a scam, it will let you know if a retailer is from overseas, which is best to avoid.

    If you do end up being scammed through PayPal by an illegitimate retailer and PayPal sides with the seller, you can always file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau themselves. Again, while not a guarantee of getting your money back, PayPal has responded favorably to BBB complaints in the past.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 23, 2021 Permalink | Reply
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    Avoid Black Friday again this year 

    Avoid Black Friday again this year

    By Greg Collier

    As you’re probably well aware of, this Friday is the infamous shopping holiday Black Friday. Every year, we urge our readers to avoid going to brick and mortar stores due to deceptive practices by the stores. Last year, we urged our readers not to go for health reasons due to the ongoing pandemic. This year, we’d like to remind our readers that COVID-19 infections are still happening and being in such close quarters with other shoppers may increase the risk of infection. But again, there are other reasons why you should be wary of many different things on Black Friday.

    The first thing to be aware of is the so-called doorbuster deals. These items are usually very limited in stock. These items are generally designed to get you in the door and try to get you to buy something more expensive once the limited stock is exhausted. Some have even said that the doorbuster products are manufactured with cheaper components to keep profit margins high for the store. That’s not even taking the current supply line crisis into account, as this year’s stock could be even more limited than before. Many of the doorbuster deals can be found on sale later on in the holiday season at an even better price if they’ll be available.

    Shopping online is a much better alternative, but there are pitfalls online that need to be avoided as well. While shopping with the major online retailers is relatively safe, scammers will try to trick you into believing you’re using one of those retailers. Scammers will send out phishing emails using the actual logos of famous shopping sites but will leave a link in the email that will take you to a phony site that resembles the real thing. They’ll then try to gain your financial information for possible identity theft and other potential abuses. In the same vein, scammers will pose as retailers and email you asking you to download something to get a deal. This will instead infect your device with malware, which could allow bad actors to access your device remotely and steal as much information as they want from it. Always go directly to a retailer’s website rather than clicking on anything in an email.

    If at all possible, use a credit card when shopping online. While debit cards may offer some protection against fraudulent purchases, credit cards have better protections and won’t take any money directly from your bank balance. Also, keep an eye on both your debit and credit card accounts to make sure that no unauthorized purchases have been made on them. Many of these services can be set up to send you a notification every time the account is used. While the notifications may be a bit annoying, they can go a long way in preventing fraud on your accounts.

    Even if you’re just buying gift cards for the family this year, there are still hazards to look out for. If you get a gift card where the PIN has already been exposed, it may have already been bought by a scammer. Sometimes scammers will put the card back on the shelf, hoping that someone will add additional funds to the card. Then the scammer could use the funds on the card without your knowledge. Another variation of this scam is when a scammer will scratch the protective coating off the card’s PIN, then replace it with a sticker after writing down the number.

    We hope these tips help you shop smarter and safer this holiday season.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 10, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , holiday shopping, , , ,   

    Puppy scams are wrecking the holidays 

    Puppy scams are wrecking the holidays

    Before we get to the heart of the matter, please don’t buy a pet for someone as a surprise gift. Any pet is a responsibility that should be taken seriously and not done as a whim.

    Now it seems between COVID and the upcoming holidays, puppy scams are becoming more and more common. The most typical puppy scam is when you buy a puppy online and the supposed breeder keeps hitting you with fees and expenses. Often the scammers will say they need extra money for insurance, shipping, or a special crate that the puppy needs. Other times, they’ll ask for extra money for supposed problems that have come up in shipping or supposed medical needs for the puppy. Then not only is the puppy never delivered, but it also doesn’t even exist. Recently, there seems to be a rash of these kinds of scams. We’ve seen reports from people who have lost $300 to someone who lost $9000.

    Just because someone has a website and claims to be a breeder, that doesn’t make them one. Scammers can have a website set up in minutes with pictures of dogs that they pulled off of Google Image Search.

    Your best bet is to always shop local from a reputable breeder. Do your research before purchasing a pet. Do a web search with the breeder’s name and the words ‘fraud’ or ‘scam’ to see if there have been any complaints against them. A reverse image search can often tell you if a fake breeder is pulling images off of other websites which is a definite indicator of a scam. Avoid any offers that are below the usual price for that particular breed. That’s how scammers often lure in their victims.

    As always, we recommend adopting a pet from your local shelter. Some shelters even have waiting lists if you’re looking for a particular breed. If you’re not looking for a particular breed we still recommend visiting your local shelter. Not only will you save a lot of money but you never know which animal there will capture your heart.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 25, 2020 Permalink | Reply
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    Why you should really avoid Black Friday this year 

    Why you should really avoid Black Friday this year

    In the past, we’ve always advised our readers against going to a brick and mortar store on Black Friday. This year, it should be quite obvious why you should avoid the big box stores this year. Not only has the CDC urged Americans to not travel this Thanksgiving due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, but many retailers have also reversed the previous trend of starting Black Friday on Thanksgiving Day. However, if you insist on braving the current landscape on Black Friday, there are still the annual pitfalls you have to look out for.

    The first thing to beware of is the so-called doorbuster deals. These items are usually very limited in stock. These items are generally designed to get you in the door and try to get you to buy something more expensive once the limited stock is exhausted. Some have even said that the doorbuster products are manufactured with cheaper components to keep profit margins high for the store.

    Shopping online is a much better alternative, but there are pitfalls online that need to be avoided as well. While shopping with the major online retailers is relatively safe, scammers will try to trick you into believing you’re using one of those retailers. Scammers will send out phishing emails using the actual logos of famous shopping sites but will leave a link in the email that will take you to a phony site that resembles the real thing. They’ll then try to gain your financial information for possible identity theft and other potential abuses. Along the same vein, scammers will pose as retailers and send you an email asking you to download something in order to get a deal. This will instead infect your device with malware which could allow bad actors to access your device remotely and steal as much information as they want from it. Always go directly to a retailer’s website rather than clicking on anything in an email.

    If at all possible when shopping online, use a credit card over a debit card when making purchases. While both debit and credit cards offer protection against scam purchases, credit cards have better protections and won’t take any money directly from your bank balance. Also, keep an eye on both your debit and credit card accounts to make sure that no unauthorized purchases have been made on them. Many of these services can be set up to send you a notification every time the account is used. While the notifications may be a bit annoying, they can go a long way in preventing fraud on your accounts.

    Even if you’re just buying gift cards for the family this year, there are still hazards to look out for. If you get a card with the PIN already being exposed it’s likely that card has been purchased already with the scammer putting the card back on the shelf hoping that someone will add additional funds to the card that the scammer could then use without your knowledge. Another variation of this scam is when a scammer will scratch the protective coating off of the card’s PIN then replace it with a sticker after writing down the number.

    To all our readers, we hope that you have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving holiday.

     

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