After Thanksgiving, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday mark the beginning of the holiday shopping season before the year-end, with many people turning to online shopping in the hopes of finding great deals on holiday gifts. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a warning on Friday (November 29) urging consumers to be cautious of online scams.
“Do not let the holiday excitement cloud your judgment! Be sure to verify the legitimacy of online retailers and exercise caution with unsolicited offers,” the FBI warned on social media platform X.
“Every year, thousands of people fall victim to holiday scams. Scammers may take away your hard-earned money, personal information, or at the very least, dampen your holiday spirit,” the FBI added in its warning on the website.
The FBI cautioned people to be wary of four types of scams: non-delivery, where consumers pay for goods online but never receive them; non-payment, where goods are shipped but the seller never receives payment; auction fraud, where false statements are made about products on auction sites; and gift card fraud, where sellers request payment using prepaid gift cards.
According to a report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2023, consumers suffered losses of over $3.09 billion due to non-payment and non-delivery scams last year, with an additional $1.73 billion in losses from credit card fraud.
The IC3’s report for 2023 also highlighted that investment scams were once again the highest loss category in the past year. Losses from investment scams increased from $33.1 billion in 2022 to $45.7 billion in 2023, a 38% growth.
The FBI provided some self-protection measures to help consumers guard against scams. These include avoiding clicking on suspicious links, being cautious of password change requests, familiarizing oneself with the merchant, using payment methods prudently, and tracking packages.
The FBI emphasized, “During the holiday season or at any time of the year when shopping online, be vigilant of deals that seem too good to be true.”
(Adapted from a report by “The Hill”.)