RALEIGH, N.C. – The season of giving is upon us, meaning more shopping, donating and, unfortunately, opportunities for scammers to take advantage of people’s generosity.
Scams come in all packages, some involving online charities and others pretending to be online retailers.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) reports online purchase scams are the riskiest in its latest 2022 Scam Tracker Risk Report, with 75% of victims reporting loss of money.
N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein said the holiday season is one of the leading periods of time for theft and scamming, due to people spending more of their discretionary income at the end of the year to buy gifts for their loved ones.
“Whether you’re buying a product or you’re giving a charitable gift to an organization, you want that money to go for your intended purpose,” Stein said. “The criminals know you’re going to be spending money, so they’ll misrepresent who they are, either as a retailer or as a charity.”
His No. 1 piece of advice is to know who you’re dealing with and make sure the company is legitimate.
“It’s so incredibly easy for a criminal…
