CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With Black Friday around the corner, a warning that no matter where you spend your dollars, a little vigilance can go a long way.
You can count on seeing three things during the holiday season: Santa, shoppers and scammers. But it’s that last one that can steal more than just your holiday spirit.
That’s why the Better Business Bureau is once again reminding folks that holiday magic can quickly turn to holiday mischief if you don’t stay alert to the schemes of clever con-artists.
“We saw over 2,000 reports just in November and December, and with those reports came a massive loss of money. It was about $1.1 million," said Regional Director of the BBB Katie Galan.
Keep in mind, those state-wide reports from last year only represent a small percentage of what really happens and goes unreported.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little awareness to keep from falling victim to a snow-job, especially when shopping for this season’s “must-haves.”
"You’re typically not going to find a lot of difference in the price, so if you see that one popular item that is super, super low, that’s a big red flag," Galan said.
With more and more people doing their day after Thanksgiving Black Friday shopping online, the link between cybercriminals and your credit card is a short one.
The BBB suggests double-checking those websites before entering your personal information, as some are not-so-cleverly disguised as the real thing.
"There are a few things that you can look at to help weed it out. If you are looking at the wording on the website, for instance, and you see some grammatical or punctuation errors or you’ll see differences in the font sizes even in the same sentence," Galan said.
And whatever you do, avoid clicking on unsolicited text or email links no matter where they come from. Even though you’re only trying to take advantage of deals and discounts, they may take you to places you just don’t want to go.
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