With the Christmas shopping season in full swing, so too are scammers on the hunt to prey and capitalize on the trust and generosity of consumers during the holidays.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Southern Alberta and East Kootenay released its yearly “The 12 Scams of Christmas” list as a fun way to warn consumers about what can go wrong while shopping for that perfect gift this holiday season, said BBB spokesperson Leah Brownridge.
“(Though it is fun), it is also meant to be taken seriously because, unfortunately, Christmas is also a time of taking for those scammers out there,” she said.
With the popularity of online shopping increasing, Brownridge said the BBB had noticed an increase in the variety and cleverness of online scams, ranging from stolen gift cards, fake coupons, malware e-cards, bogus websites, as well as travel and romance scams.
The puppy scam is one of particular popularity around Christmas season as parents look to buy children a fluffy friend, but Brownridge noted there are very high risks involved with purchasing pets online.
Without meeting the breeder or dog beforehand, one can never be sure it did not come from a puppy mill or what the health of the animal is before it arrives.
“You’re really trusting the person on the other side of the computer screen,” Brownridge said. “You may end up not having a puppy at all because it was a scam.”
The BBB advises consumers be smart when purchasing online by checking if the website’s url has “https” in front of it, with the ‘s’ meaning secure, a padlock icon as well as the first part highlighted in green to signal the website is using a secure sockets layer (SSL).
Scott Sibbald, spokesperson for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, said through mandatory breach reporting for Alberta-based business, their department knows that, on average, there is one security breach every five days.
“There’s a huge difference among organizations in terms of their security capabilities,” he said. “The more reliable the business, obviously the more trusted it can be, but it’s always best to take extra precautions.”
The desire to give to charities during the holidays can also lead folks into the target of scam artists, Brownridge said.
Before reaching into your pockets, she recommended collecting as much information about the charity and perhaps requesting the charity prove it is registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
“All Canadian charities must be registered through the CRA,” she said. “If they are not, that is a red flag right there.”
Brownridge said though online scams will only become more prevalent as technology advances, there are still more personal scams people might have to watch out for this holiday season.
A popular one, which preys on the elderly, is the stranded grandchild.
Brownridge said scammers usually acquire enough information through social media profiles to call grandparents pretending to be their grandchild in distress and needing money immediately through a wire transfer.
“That is usually very hard to trace and once that money has gone through, the chances of getting it back are slim to none,” Brownridge said.
