LOS ANGELES — ‘Tis the season for holiday giving, which means it’s also the season for holiday scams.
Like everything else this year, COVID-19 is having a dramatic effect on the way people are shopping, shifting more of their purchases online and increasing their risk of falling prey.
“It’s a perfect storm,” said Steve Weisman, founder of the website Scamicide.com. “Scams are easier to perpetrate online, and so much more is being done online since the pandemic.”
Fake websites
Every year there are high-demand toys that sell out, and 2020 is no different. Some of the most sought-after items this season are an animatronic Baby Yoda and an animatronic puppy. But beware of buying one from an unfamiliar website that’s offering them at an unusually low price.
“People falling for this scam end up both not getting the toy they thought they ordered and losing their money in the process,” Weisman said. “You are better off dealing with a reputable retailer.”
Even so, consumers should make sure they are, in fact, shopping from the retailer they think it is, and not a scammer who has created an imposter site that looks the part. Fake websites that use the name or logo of a well-known, trusted retailer are “a big issue this year,” said Colleen Tressler, consumer education specialist with the Federal Trade Commission.
If you think you’re shopping at Target.com, Walmart.com, or any other popular, name-brand online retailer, it’s possible the website isn’t actually run by Target or Walmart.
"Sometimes people will be looking for a URL and do a Google search, and the scammers can sometimes manipulate the Google algorithms to get a high ranking in the search, so the phony website comes up when you search," said Weisman. "You can’t tell when you get on the website that it’s phony."
To make sure the site is what you think it is, Weisman suggested verifying the owner of the URL at WhoIs.com.
“When you look at the Target website and it’s owned by somebody in Nigeria, you’ve got an idea something’s amiss,” Weisman said.
The same logic applies to charitable giving.
“This is a time of year when people are generous with their donation dollars, and just like fake retail websites, there very often are scammers pretending to be a legitimate charity,” Tressler said, adding that the FTC encourages donors to use the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance to verify a charity before giving.
Amazon refund
This scam is perpetrated as a phone call from a person who claims to be with the online retailer, Amazon. After informing you the item you ordered was out of stock, the caller will not only offer to refund your money but give you extra cash as an apology. Of course, they just need some account information, Weisman said.
“This is just a scam to get your bank account number or credit card,” said Weisman, who advises consumers to always use a credit card when shopping online because of consumer protection laws that shield them from liability.
The call is made more believable through a technique called spoofing, whereby the scammer has manipulated caller ID to make it appear as if it is coming from Amazon.
Weisman said the Amazon scam was popular during China’s largest one-day online shopping event — the November 11 holiday known as Singles Day.
“Some of the scams that happened with online shopping in China we’ll be seeing and are already seeing in the U.S.,” he added.
Gift cards
Most holiday shoppers prefer giving actual gifts to gift cards. Still, 56% of consumers plan to purchase gift cards this year, according to the retail analytics firm, NPD Group.
Retailers are happy to oblige. Walk into pretty much any store these days, and there are racks and racks of plastic cards waiting to be loaded with money.
Weisman said scammers might use a card reader to access the magnetic strip on the back of the card, get the number from the front, and then put the card back on the rack without buying it.
“The scammer is always calling the 800 number on the card to see if someone’s purchased it and put money on it,” he said. “Once they find that they have, they use the card number for online purchases, so they basically empty it.”
While many gift card issuers cover up the number on the back of the card with a film that needs to be scratched off, some scammers scratch it off and put it back on the rack.
Weisman says it’s best to purchase gift cards that are kept behind the cash register so they haven’t been tampered with, and to always check to make sure the number on the back of the card hasn’t been exposed.
Puppies
Puppy scams have been increasing since 2017, according to the Better Business Bureau, which has found more than 3,500 scams involving puppies so far this year.
As consumers turn to the Internet to find pets, “they will be met with a slew of heart-tugging ads,” according to the BBB website, but “many of the ads are scams, and anyone looking online for a pet is extremely likely to encounter one.”
Weisman explained that scammers often put up websites that look like those of legitimate breeders, using photos of dogs from legitimate breeders’ sites. Weisman suggests verifying the source of the photo for the pet you’ve fallen in love with, using a tool such as Google Photos.
“If that same dog turns up on another site, you have an idea it isn’t legit," he said.
Still, people fall for it.
“They send the money, the dog’s going to be shipped, but the dog never comes,” he said. “Sometimes, they even get more money after you initially paid for the dog claiming there were issues with the transport or need more money for a bigger crate.”
Weisman suggests verifying a breeder’s legitimacy before buying. The American Kennel Club recommends that consumers ask if the breeder is a member of an AKC-affiliated club, then contacting that club to verify membership. The AKC also runs its own puppy-finding website for responsibly bred dogs.
Letters from Santa
One of two scams L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer warned shoppers to beware of on Black Friday, the Santa scam starts with an unsolicited email offering to sell a handwritten letter from Santa for a child.
The price is usually $19.99, Feuer said in a video message that advised consumers not to click on the link. “In the best case, you’re simply out $20. In the worst case, you just shared your credit card information with potential scammers, who can now use it for identity theft.”
Social media gift exchange
This scam starts with an email or social media invitation to sign up for a gift exchange with strangers. “All you’ve got to do is provide your name, address, and personal information, and that of a few friends, and tag this information onto a list that’s already started of people you’ve never met on the Internet,” Feuer said. “Next, it’s your turn to send an email or social media invitation to send a modest gift or a bottle of wine to a stranger along with their family, friends, or contacts.”
The cycle continues with the victim buying or shipping gifts to strangers in the hopes of receiving the same.
“Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way,” Feuer said. “Just like any other pyramid scheme, it relies on the recruitment of individuals to keep the scam afloat. Once people stop participating in the gift exchange, the gift supply stops as well, and leaves hundreds of disappointed people without their promised gifts."