Holiday shopping scams to watch out for this season

It’s such a busy shopping season and scammers always seem to be one step ahead. Many people swear by shopping at brick and mortar but one unique scam happens inside some of your favourite stores.

Cyber security expert at Humber College, Francis Syms says online shopping is filled with digital landmines that put your accounts at risk and suggests ways to evade holiday hacks sent to your inbox. “If the offer is too good to be true, it probably is,” Syms says.

With public wifi almost at every mall and coffee shop, Syms suggests not logging on to shop, “any other computer on the same network in principle can grab all that data that you’re that you’re putting over.”

A simpler solution would be to shop in-store but former police officer Nichelle Laus points out there are traps in-store too, “‘I was buying a gift card, $100 gift card… I picked up the first one and I felt the back… there’s a fake barcode on that.”

Laus says fraudsters steal gift cards then take them home and customize them in their favour. They will peel the real barcodes and replace them with fake ones. The scammer will then sneak the cards back onto the shelf in store, usually at the top for someone to buy.

When you pay for the customized gift card, the scammer will have access to the funds with the real bar code, and you will walk out with a dud.

Laus adds that to keep an eye on what shows up after you scan a gift card if it does match and you want to make sure the serial numbers match.