Credit Card Scams: What to Watch Out For This Holiday Season

Credit card fraud is rampantEspecially with the holiday shopping season in full swing.

Fraudsters use various methods to carry out these scams, including using credit card skimming machines to post fake messages about fraudulent or unauthorized charges.

During the holiday season in particular, “scammers try to take advantage of people looking for a great deal by creating fake websites where favorite brands appear to be on sale at unbelievable prices,” said Michael Jabbara, global head of fraud services at Visa. Fox Business.

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In the past four months, Visa identified a 284% increase in fake and deceptive merchant websites compared to the previous four-month period, according to Jabbara.

“These sites sometimes appear identical to the merchants they are impersonating, making it extremely important for consumers to independently verify that they are on the site they believe they are on,” Jabbara added.

There has also been a significant increase in the number of fraudulent traders posing as legitimate charities. While some scammers create fake versions of Legitimate charitiesOthers create fake charities with plausible-sounding names.

Consumers also need to be wary of any text messages claiming fraudulent charges on their credit card.

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If consumers receive a text message about a fraud charge, scammers will typically ask for their passcode or other information via text message.

“Your credit card company would never do this by email or text,” Ted Jenkin, co-founder of oXYGen Financial, told FOX Business. “The simplest thing you can do is pick up the phone, call the 800 number on the back of your card, and verify what you received on your phone.”

The American Bankers Association also warned consumers about “card hacking,” which is when consumers respond to an online request for quick and easy ways to get money.

Criminals will leverage social media platforms like Instagram to lure consumers and convince them to share their debit card or bank account information to withdraw fake check deposits.

Instead, criminals will deposit worthless checks Using mobile deposits And withdraw money immediately from an ATM, according to the ABA.

Another thing consumers should be wary of are ATM skimmer devices, which are inserted into a card reader or installed inside the machine.

Skimmers can also be mounted above the machine’s card reader or placed along exposed cables in free-standing ATMs. Fraudsters will use pinhole cameras installed on or around ATMs to record a customer’s PIN entry, or they may use keystroke overlays, which record keystrokes made by a customer.

Skimming, along with phishing and identity theft, are some of the most common credit card frauds that securities attorney Andrew Stoltman has dealt with over the years.

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“One of the most common scams is people receive a text message that appears to be from UPS or FedEx. Then they click on it and people either have access to the phone or are asked to confirm through the credit card what type of physical credit card you will be using for the purchase,” he said, adding that this “Particularly convincing during the holiday season when a lot of people are sending packages.”