Christmas shopping scams – how to stay safe

With Christmas fast approaching, you’re probably turning to online stores to buy your last-minute gifts or book travel arrangements. However, fraudsters are also busy stepping up their efforts to steal your money over the festive period.

It is important to be vigilant at all times during your Christmas shopping. Keep reading, and I’ll walk you through the red flags to be aware of and how security software, such as best VPN apps, can help you stay safe.

Christmas fraud red flags

1. Too good to be true

This is the most important thing to remember every time you shop online – if an offer sounds too good to be true, well, it usually is.

Always be vigilant as scammers can advertise incredible (but fake) discounts on various platforms, including social media, spam emails and even private messages. Of course, these incidents are likely to become more common during the Christmas shopping rush.

So even if you have tons of gifts left to get, take the time to read through reviews or compare prices with other sites. You should also be skeptical of requests for personal information or payment information at an early stage.

Christmas scams

(Image credit: Zephyr_p Shutterstock)

2. Harmful ads

According to Google Ad Safety Report, Google removed or blocked 206.5 million ads for misrepresentation last year, including those that turned out to be fraud or marketing malicious software. Search engines weren’t the only places filled with ad fraud either, as online shopping scams were also prominent on social media platforms, according to Statista.

Now fraudsters are using interactive ads to grab customers’ attention. These scams, which include games, quizzes or innocent apps, take advantage of interactive elements to entice users to have fun with a seemingly innocent ad.

“These scams can trick users into providing personal information, downloading malware or signing up for services they don’t want,” explains Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN. “Despite their entertaining appearance, interactive ads are a perfect tool for fraudsters, especially on social media platforms, where users tend to be less cautious.”

3. Fake stores

Fake shops are becoming more and more widespread online – and more and more convincing. This is because cybercriminals are now using generative AI tools, such as ChatGPTto create convincing scams and dubious websites.

That said, there are still some red flags you can look out for to determine if a shopping site is legitimate or not. As a rule of thumb, be wary of incredibly cheap offers that seem too good to be true.

Looking at the domain name is another good way to verify if the store is legitimate. Other characteristics of malicious websites include an amateurish design, grammatical errors and poor spelling. Before you hit the buy button, you should also check the reviews and contact sections to see if they look like the real deal.

Phishing scams

(Image credit: Getty Images)

4. Unsolicited Messages

While ad fraud and fake stores are becoming popular, malicious messages are still perhaps the most common method for fraudsters to spread phishing attacks. The Christmas season is also an ideal time for these types of scams, as criminals take advantage of the fact that you are probably waiting for some deliveries or time-sensitive offers.

You should be especially wary of fake shipping, account verification and order confirmation messages as these are the most common scams. Therefore, beware of unwanted messages, especially when you cannot recognize the sender.

Criminals can also pretend to be legitimate companies to send you a Congratulations-type email to get you to click on a questionable link. Again, companies are very unlikely to give away free products – not even during Christmas.

How to protect yourself from Christmas scams

While your judgment is the most important weapon you have to use to ensure fraudsters can’t get your money or your data, there are some security tools that can increase your protection against these Christmas shopping scams.

To begin with, you use one virtual private network (VPN) allows you to mask your real IP address and virtual location. This makes it more difficult for cybercriminals, advertisers and other third parties to spy on your activities and intercept your sensitive data.

However, VPNs do more than just strengthen your online security. NordVPN’s Threat Protection Profor example, keeping you safe from fake stores, phishing and even malware infections. Two independent reviews even recently confirmed that it was top tool to block malicious websites.

If a link looks questionable, you can use one link checking tool to check if it is legitimate before clicking on it. Even better, these services are often free to use, including those developed by NordVPN and IPVanish.

Enables two-factor authentication is also critical to minimizing the risk of your account being compromised. Receiving an unsolicited verification message could mean someone is trying to access your account, giving you the time you need to change your password and prevent a breach.

With the help of a trusted the password manager the tool is a great way to create strong passwords and keep track of your login details across all your accounts. While you need to subscribe to one of the top plans to use NordPass, the likes of ExpressVPN and Proton VPN comes with this extra security feature included at no extra cost.

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Christmas shopping scams – how to stay safe

Christmas fraud red flags

1. Too good to be true

Kaneb

Christmas fraud red flags

1. Too good to be true

Kaneb

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