Protect Yourself From Common Scams This Holiday Season
With the holiday season in full swing, here’s a look back at some common online scams to help you protect yourself and reduce the risk of fraud.
- Donation Scams: These scams are done by accounts impersonating famous religious figures, or by accounts pretending to be representatives from various charities or orphanages. In the messages, the scammers will ask for donations.
- Loan Scams: Loan scammers send messages and leave posts and comments on Facebook Pages and in Facebook Groups offering, or claiming to know someone offering, instant loans at a low interest rate for a small advance fee.
- Free Coupons: For this scam, you are promised free coupons at large retailers worth more than usual, or coupons for a free vacation. All you need to do is use your Facebook login on a site, and you’ll get a free vacation. However, instead of the free vacation your social media identity will be stolen.
- Contest Scams: This is another common scam, and it is as simple as setting up a fake page on Facebook, marketing it with a great contest, and collecting information from everyone that joined. One such scam claimed that those who shared the link would get a $1,000 IKEA gift card, and more than 40,000 people fell for it.
- Government Grant Scams: If an individual contacts you about an opportunity to obtain free money in the form of a grant from the federal government, be extremely wary.
Remember, when in doubt or if you feel pressured, don’t send money. If you lose money to a scam, it is extremely hard to recover the lost money. So, take care to ensure you are being diligent. If you are unsure, please contact Educators Credit Union, we are here to assist you.
For more tips on other common scam attempts, visit ecu.com/tools-resources/fraud-theft-protection/.