The holiday season typically provides merriment, get-togethers, and joy; however, it is also a time when the frauds with hearts two sizes too small come out and dim the lights and the magic of the Christmas holidays. In most articles like this, the focus is on online scams and those that are similar in nature. In this comprehensive guide, though, we are going to place an emphasis on two types of scams – the Postal Service scams and banking scams. Continue reading to learn more.
The United States Postal Service has fully committed to helping its customers avoid scams that are currently trending due to the holidays. The Postal Service believes that acquiring basic knowledge and equipping yourself with knowledge can help you avoid getting snowed over this holiday season by scammers whose hearts are two sizes too small.
Counterfeit Postage Scams
According to many studies, there are large amounts of counterfeit stamps that are being created and sold on the internet. The quality of the stamps is often high, which makes unsuspecting victims more willing to purchase the stamps. Many of these stamps are sold for lower costs than real stamps. If you purchase these stamps, it may seem as if you are saving money. Before too long, you will find that you will directly face additional postage costs, and you may even face legal consequences associated with using counterfeit postage stamps. You should only ever get stamps from the Post Office, or from the USPS online website – nowhere else.
Avoid Phishing and Smishing Scams
Phishing and smishing scams are those committed by fraudsters that want to steal personally identifiable Information. Examples include your Social Security Number and/or your debit or credit card numbers. If you experience this type of scam, it is likely that you will receive either a text or an email that provides you with a fake URL or a file that, when opened, could activate a virus or even hijack the electronic device that you are using at the time. Never click on a link that is provided to you by an unknown source. In fact, it is a good practice to just not click on any link at all in text messages or emails.
If a fraudster with hearts two sizes too small succeed in their phishing and their smishing scams, they will be able to successfully be able to carry out a wide assortment of crimes like financial fraud. These types of crimes can be very difficult to fix. In short, frauds are committing a form of “financial DNA”. In addition to the fraudsters using your information, they may sell it to impostors who will commit crimes with the information.
Protecting Your Mail
Each year, there are literally thousands of arrests made for mail theft and other types of postal-related crimes. These crimes typically involve regular people stealing mail out of mailboxes and taking packages left at the recipient’s home. This is a very common situation around the holidays. The good news is that there are some steps that may be taken that will help you in protecting any mail and/or packages that you receive. These steps include the following:
- Pickup Mail – If you know that you have mail and packages, you should retrieve it as quickly as you are able to so that no one else has the chance to take it.
- Overdue Mail – If you are expecting mail and it is overdue, you should inquire about it immediately. This is especially true if you are expecting a credit card, gift card, money, or another valuable.
- Avoid Sending Cash – You should err on the side of caution as to what you send and it is advised that you never risk sending straight cash in the mail.
- Prompt Arrangements – If you are unable to directly receive a package, you should promptly make arrangements with the United States Postal Service to make another delivery arrangement or use the “Hold Mail Service”.
- Hold for Pickup – If you are shipping packages, you should use the “Hold for Pick-up” option that is available at the USPS. This will let the recipient to pick up the package at the local Post Office.
- Signature Confirmation – If you are mailing something that is considered to be “important”, request a signature confirmation.
- Moving – If you are moving, you should file a change of address and other financial institutions to file a change of address.
Protect Your Mail Carrier
During the holidays, mail carriers are often targeted by criminals in order to steal mail and/or packages. If you see anything suspicious with your mail carrier, you should definitely contact the authorities immediately.
Holiday Bank Scams
In addition to postal scams, there are bank scams that occur around the holidays, too, and you definitely do not want to get snowed over this holiday season by fraudsters with a heart two sizes too small. The following outlines the most common bank schemes that pertain to banking:
- Fake Notifications – You may find that you receive notifications that are related to package problems. In most instances, these notifications include a link that you are supposed to click on. If you click on that link, it will typically be a form of malware or clickbait to get you to enter your information.
- Charity Fraud – Many scammers will send requests for fake donations in a text or in an email. This is especially true if a disaster or another type of high-profile cause has occurred.
- Social Media Advertisements – If you see popular or high-value items, services, or products offered at a price on social media that is just “too good to be true”, it probably is a scam. There are many fake stores that take payments from customers, but they never ship the products out.
- Fake Jobs – There are fake job ads out there that encourage you to pay to be trained and/or to share the bank details of your bank.
- Gift Card -Some scammers will impersonate different companies or other types of officials who insist on payment through the means of gift cards and/or cryptocurrency. These are fake. If you have a payment coming, you should not have to pay for the payment.
- AI Scams – There are deepfake models and cloned models and/or voices make impersonations of people or brands.
Steps To Protect Yourself from Holiday Bank Scams
- Skeptical – When approaching potential scams, you should be very skeptical. If something is too good to be true, it probably is.
- Verify – If you get notifications from shipping providers such as USPS/FEDEX/UPS directly – do not click on any links.
- Charities – If you want to donate money to a charity, you should do it through a reputable source and/or their website directly.
- Secure Accounts – When creating online accounts, be sure to create and use very strong passwords. This is also important when it comes to the use of multi-factor authentication. You should always set up as many bank account alerts and/or notifications as possible.
- Pause – Before you share or send money, you should pause and really think about what you are doing.
- Sensitive Information – Never share your usernames, passwords or codes with anyone.
- Verification – If any business that you work with any financial company, credit card company, or bank and you receive any type of snail mail, email, or texts from them, call them directly to verify that the correspondence is from them.
- Wiring Money – If you make an online purchase, you should never wire the money. You should use alternate payment methods that protect your purchase.
- No Gift Cards – you should avoid paying for items with pre-paid gift cards. The seller will ask you to use a gift card and then they will ask you for the number of the card and the PIN. You will never get what you purchased. Once they receive the money on the gift card, they will use it for something else.
- Credit Cards – If you use a credit card online and/or to make purchases, you should check the statement out on a regular to make sure there are no unusual or unknown charges.
- Shipping Process – When you purchase something online, you should get a tracking number so that you may monitor the shipping process. If you are unable to get a tracking number, you should not make the purchase.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many types of holiday scams that could snow you over that are done by criminals whose hearts are two sizes too small. If you need any support to protect yourself, you may contact us here at Somerville Bank. We offer a wide selection of services – including identity theft services. We offer checking accounts, savings accounts, and more. If you would like to learn more the services that will protect you from getting snowed in from holiday scams by people with hearts two sizes too small. Click on the following link to find a location now: https://somervillebank.net/locations/
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