Don't Let Scammers Dampen the Holidays!

When shopping online during the holiday season—or any time of year—always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. Don't become a scammer’s next victim.

Every year, thousands of people become victims of holiday scams. Scammers can rob you of hard-earned money, personal information, and, at the very least, a festive mood.

Scams include:

• Non-delivery scams, where you pay for goods or services you find online, but you never receive your items
• Non-payment scams, where you ship purchased goods or services, but you never receive payment for them
• Auction fraud, where a product you purchase was misrepresented on an auction site
• Gift card fraud, where a seller asks you to pay with a pre-paid card

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s (IC3) 2024 report, non-payment and non-delivery scams cost people $785,436,888 that year. The IC3 receives a large volume of complaints in the early months of each year, suggesting a correlation with the previous holiday season’s shopping scams.

Click Read More below to see the FBI's recommendations for protecting yourself and reporting scams.