BBB Warns of Holiday Shopping Scams

ZANESVILLE, OH – Holiday shopping is in full swing and the Better Business Bureau wants to make sure you’re doing it safely.

Judy Dollison, the President of the BBB of Central Ohio, said while they see spikes of scams all year round, the biggest comes when the holidays are right around the corner.

She said one of the things you can do to protect yourself from an online shopping scam is to research the site you want to purchase something from before you buy.

“With fake websites, you want to look at the URL, a lot of times you will see with a scam website they will have a very similar name to what is a legitimate retailer,” Dollison said. “They’ll just have a slight typo or extra dash or an extra line and it takes you to a scam website. So really pay attention to that URL and make sure you see a https with that lock symbol, that stands for secure and that means you’re shopping on a secure website.”

Dollison said another scam to be on the look out for is gift card scams. She said scammers will head into different retailers and take photos or videos of the barcodes on the gift cards. Dollison said once the scammers have that information they will be able to wipe the funds from the card.

She also provided some tips to help combat the infamous porch pirates.

“Just by knowing when the delivery is going to occur, if you can sign up for text messages from the retailers so you can track the package and you can respond accordingly when you see the packages arriving, if you’re able to do that,” Dollison said. “We always say if there’s a trusted friend that you can have the package delivered to, that’s an option as well. Many of the retailers are now having alternative ways of delivering items.”

For more information on holiday scams, you can head to the BBB’s website.