Let's Roast Holiday Scams! Learn How to Spot Them, Then Enter For Your Chance to Win

Don't just roast that holiday turkey. Let's roast holiday scams!

AARP Ohio wants you to help you have a safe and wonderful holiday with family and friends. Check out the holiday scam prevention tips below, then enter our sweepstakes for a chance to win one of four $250 Visa gift cards. The sweepstakes runs until 11: 59 p.m., Nov. 22, 2024.

See rules and enter here.

AARP helps consumers protect themselves, their families and their communities from scams and fraud, and provides support when victimization occurs. As a leader in fraud education and awareness, AARP's Fraud Watch Network is a free resource for all. With AARP as your partner, you’ll learn how to proactively spot scams, learn about scams in your area, get guidance from our fraud specialists if you’ve been targeted, and feel more secure knowing that we advocate at the federal, state and local levels to protect consumers and enforce the law.

Common Holiday Scams

• Card Decline Scams: This new scam declines your credit card then takes a second card. You'll be charged for purchase on both cards.
• Charity Scams: Bogus charities exploit seasonal goodwill via fake websites, door-to-door solicitations and telemarking.
• Online Shopping Scams: Sham websites and social media posts that impersonate major brands and nonexistent retailers entice you with great deals for products you'll never receive.
• Gift Card Scams: Criminals steal the numbers off gift cards from a rack in a busy grocery store or box retailer. Once you load money onto the card, it gets siphoned off.
• Delivery Scams: During the gift giving season, people are buying online and sending gifts. Beware of phishing emails from fraudsters posing as UPS, FedEx, U.S. Postal Service or U.S. Customs.
• Porch Pirates: With holiday shopping and shipping comes package theft. In 2023, an estimated 3-in-4 Americans experienced package poaching.
• Travel Scams: Look out for emails, texts or spoofed websites offering travel deals, such as free or heavily discounted tickets or travel packages, to get credit card information or click on links that download malware.

Holiday Scam Warning Signs and Tips

• Look out for huge discounts on hot gift items, especially when touted on social media posts or unfamiliar websites.
  
• Watch out for spelling errors or shoddy grammar on a shopping website or in an email or text.
  
• Don't respond to unsolicited emails that ask you to click on a link or download an app to access a deal or arrange a delivery.
  
• Rather than clicking on a link from an email or text to a hot deal, go to your web browser and type in the web address of the company purportedly offering the deal.
  
• Pay for gifts by credit card. This way, you can dispute charges and limit the damage if the transaction was fraudulent.
  
• Buy gifts cards online directly from the issuing businesses, instead of from a retail rack, where the cards can be tampered with. When receiving a gift card as a present, register it if that’s an option, and use it sooner rather than later.
  
• Avoid conducting any business online (making a purchase, donating, accessing password-protected sites) while using a public WIFI network unless you employ a virtual private network (VPN).
  
• Recognize pressure from a charity fundraiser to donate before you hand over money. Pushy charity telemarketers could be an indicator they are imposters. Legitimate charities will accept your donations on your own timeline. Be sure to do your research before you donate.
  
• Any time you are prompted to make a purchase or donation by wire transfer or gift card, it's a scam.
  
• To outsmart porch pirates, retrieve a package as soon as it arrives. Have the sender require a signature, if possible. Pick up your package somewhere else, such as shipping to your nearest store, your workplace, your neighbor's house, or instructing the delivery person to place your delivery out of sight at your home. You may also want to consider a door camera for security.
  
• To protect yourself from travel scams, determine if a website is real. Don't trust phone numbers as they can be easily spoofed. Also, be wary of travel businesses that ask for payment before confirming reservations.

Call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline, 877-908-3360, to speak with trained fraud specialists who can provide support and guidance on what to do next and how to avoid future scams.