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‘Tis the Season for the 12 Scams of the Holidays

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Fa la la la la, la la la la. Yes that’s me singing, but thank goodness you can’t really hear me (I save that for the shower). If you can believe it, it’s that time of the year again (even though it seems like we just finished Halloween). Time for holiday parties, family traditions, ugly sweaters, and… scams? Yes, that’s right. Now that the holiday season has begun, many of us are sharing, shopping and booking travel online— even more than we normally do.

And scammers know that with all that money and personal information floating around, they have a big opportunity. Using techniques like phishing, social engineering, fake charities and infected USB drives, cybercriminals can invade your privacy and drain your bank account.

Don’t let these hackers and thieves dampen your holiday cheer. To help you stay safe this season, McAfee has compiled a list of the 12 Scams of the Holidays. Check it out and educate yourself on what scams you need to look out for this holiday season.

12-scam

Here’s some tips to help you stay safe during the holidays:

  • Be careful when clicking. Don’t click on links in email or social media messages from people you don’t know, and use a URL expander to know what site you are going to before clicking on a shortened URL.
  • Be suspicious. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
  • Practice safe surfing. Use a Web safety advisor, such as McAfee® SiteAdvisor®, that protects you from going to risky sites.
  • Avoid public Wi-Fi. Public Wi-Fi might be convenient, but it’s also accessible to anyone who wants to see what you are doing online.
  • Shop safely online. Make sure you stick to reputable e-commerce sites that have been verified as safe by a third-party Trustmark, like McAfee SECURE™. Also look for “https” at the beginning of a site’s URL, which indicates that the site is using encryption to protect your information.
  • Use security software on all your devices. Make sure you have comprehensive security protection, like McAfee LiveSafe™ service, for all your devices, including your mobile phone and tablet that also safeguards your data and includes identity protection.

Season of Sharing Sweepstakes

To make sure that we all have a safe and merry holiday, McAfee and Dell have teamed up to bring you the Season of Sharing Sweepstakes—and give you a chance to win prizes. By sharing safe shopping and online safety tips around the 12 scams with your friends and family, you’ll not only be helping others to stay safe online this holiday season, but you’ll also earn a chance to win a $1,000 gift card to Dell.com** along with McAfee LiveSafe service to make sure all your devices are protected!

‘Tis the season to be jolly, so make sure you stay safe online.

*Sweepstakes open to US residents only. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Sweepstakes is from November 4 – December 12, 2014. See www.12scams.com for full terms and conditions.
**Terms and conditions apply. See www.dell.com/giftcard.

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked!  Disclosures.

Summertime Scams Are Coming

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As the spring rolls through and the summer heats up, the bad guy is planning his next seasonal scams.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has on average over 15,000 complaints a year related to travel, vacation or timeshare scams. It’s important to have summer safety in mind when planning your next summer vacations.

OK, I’ll admit it. I got scammed in a timeshare deal, kind of. I got what I paid for, but many lies were told to get me to sign on the dotted line. Whenever someone offers you money or dinner or tickets to anything in exchange for your time to sit down and learn about a timeshare “opportunity”, know that a very hard sell by someone who does not take no for an answer is coming. The way we got scammed was we were told we’d have no problem renting it out, which was the defining reason I’d commit to buy. The reality is there are hundreds of thousands of timeshares for rent. Which means it’s cheaper to rent someone else’s timeshare than it is to buy one and people who rent them out often do so for less than their annual maintenance fees.

Most people are not equipped to say no to these professionals. So if you absolutely don’t want to buy a timeshare, don’t take the bait, don’t go to the sales presentation, and for heaven’s sake don’t do it if you are under the influence of alcohol!

Another devious summer scam relates to classified offerings for summertime rentals that don’t exist. There may very well be an actual cottage rental, but the scammer may not own it and he may be renting it to 30 people the same week. This is an easy scam to pull off and often involves up front deposits that the victim never gets back.

The best way to prevent getting scammed and ensure summer safety is by dealing with a local real estate agent who specializes in rentals or going through a referral of a friend who has a previous relationship with the owner.

As crazy as it sounds, you are better off paying via a credit card number opposed to a check. Once a check is cashed, that’s it; you don’t have many (or any) options of recouping those funds if fraud is detected. There are a few more protections available when using a credit card.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing scams on the Donnie Deutsch The Big Idea Show.