Identity thieves and other scammers are ready and waiting to ruin the holiday season. However, Michiganders can reduce the chances to become a scam victim. With shoppers distracted by their to-do lists and opening their wallets frequently, Mark Hornbeck with the AARP of Michigan says thieves are ready to pounce. He explains online shoppers need to watch out for fraudulent websites when making purchases.
“They can make addresses that are similar. For example, amazon-shop.com is not amazon.com. And this is called spoofing. It gets you to reveal some information about yourself that can be used for identity theft or other foul purposes.”
Also, Hornbeck suggests avoiding public Wi-Fi when checking sensitive personal information or making purchases. Using a credit card rather than a debit card can help better protect shoppers. Gift card scams also are common, and Hornbeck recommends always buying them directly from the cashier, instead of off of a rack.
