Beware of Internet Fraud This Holiday Shopping Season

It is that time of year. Busy, Busy, Busy with so much to do. Shopping online is such a time saver! We appreciate the opportunity to make our Christmas shopping a little easier with all the trusted retailers who offer free or reduced shipping along with great sale prices associated with this time of year. We are all looking for the very best deal we can find to stretch our gift dollars. Buyer beware of internet fraud though! If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Best practices would be to stick with the retailers you are familiar with.  There are a couple of websites you should save to your favorites on your PC for easy reference, not just for online shopping fraud but most any type of internet fraud. As an Avon eRepresentative, I receive warnings from time to time when a scam is active. Very shortly after I started selling Avon a couple of months ago, I was contacted by one such criminal. She claimed that she was a make-up artist for a movie company. She wanted to place many very large orders and pay for them with a check made out to me personally. She also claimed to be located a few hundred miles away from me.  I encouraged her to place the order, pay online and have the order shipped directly to her. She refused and continued to try to convince me to take her personal check. I finally just quit responding to her. The very next day, I received a warning from Avon about that particular scam. I’m glad I realized something wasn’t right about that communication.

The two websites you need to hang onto are:

The first one is, Lookstoogoodtobetrue.com. Their goal is to educate consumers for prevention of becoming a victim of Internet fraud. This site was developed and is maintained by a joint federal law enforcement and industry task force. Isn’t that comforting! It makes me feel better to know the right folks are looking out for us! Several menu selections on the Looks Too Good To Be True website include; Types of Fraud, Victims Stories, Teen Center and a Consumer Alert page. The Victims stories cover topics such as; discounted gift cards, charged double for an online order, buyer and professional shipper and many, many more. Be sure to take a look and save them to your favorites on your PC.

The second site is actually www.fbi.gov. To get right to the page dealing with internet scams go here. I feel like you know there is a plethora of information available on the FBI website. There are headings such as Common Fraud Scams, Senior Citizens and Investment related scams. Each of these topics has a number of subtopics.

Both of these websites have information for reporting if you believe you have been a victim of internet fraud. They also both offer a great deal of information to educate yourself as well as links for more information. Let’s enjoy the wonderful Holiday season by protecting ourselves against those who seek to rob us! I hope you have found this information helpful. I LOVE to shop online, especially this time of year. I want that to be a good experience for you and me!

Thank you for sharing!