If you’re shopping online this holiday season, be on the lookout for scammers trying to steal a deal, too. Scammers are often aggressive and creative in their efforts. They use unorthodox scams to steal your money and personal information. Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
The two most prevalent of these holiday scams are non-delivery and non-payment crimes. In a non-delivery scam, a buyer pays for goods or services they find online, but those items are never received. Conversely, a non-payment scam involves goods or services being shipped, but the seller is never paid. Nationally, for non-payment/non-delivery scams, IC3 received more than 44,220 complaints with losses over $276 million for the period through October 2022.
Locally according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), in 2021 more than 600 victims living in Western PA lost $848,571 in these types of crimes. So far in 2022, more than 400 victims lost $936,997. In West Virginia, nearly 400 victims lost $952,579 in 2021. So far this year, more than 200 victims have lost $736,374 across the state.
“Make sure you do your homework when you’re shopping this year,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Mike Nordwall. “In general, the types of scams we see do not change significantly. However, the techniques the scammers use and the methods of deploying these scams do change. By following a few simple tips and remaining vigilant, you can protect your information,…
