FBI, FTC warn Americans about holiday shopping scams

Amid Black Friday sales and other holiday shopping bonanzas, the FBI and Federal Trade Commission are warning Americans to beware of scams.

These schemes can include products not being delivered to buyers, sellers not being paid for shipping merchandise, items being misrepresented on auction sites like eBay, and sellers demanding a customer pay for a product with a prepaid gift card, the FBI said in a release.

In 2023, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 50,523 nonpayment and nondelivery complaints, costing victims over $309 million. Credit card and check fraud cost victims more than $173 million.

Scammers impersonating legitimate businesses cost consumers $752 million last year, according to the FTC, and online shopping was the second-largest category of fraud behind impersonation scams.

The FBI recommends that consumers not click on suspicious-looking links or attachments in emails, not enter information on websites that don’t start with https, be wary of sellers saying they normally live in the U.S. but are out of the country, and not sell to people who want a product shipped a certain way to get around customs. 

The agencies also warned that some deals are too good to be true. The FBI cautioned against buying from merchants portraying themselves as authorized dealers or factory representatives of popular items from foreign countries where those deals would not exist.

The FTC said that “unusually low prices are a sign of a scam. Don’t click on ads that advertise a product at a very low price when you know it’s usually a very expensive item.”

The FBI also recommended consumers never directly wire money to a vendor, never pay with prepaid gift cards, keep apprised of the charges on their credit card statement, always get tracking numbers to stay updated on the status and whereabouts of purchases and, as sellers, be wary of consumers with cardholder and shipping addresses that don’t match.

In addition to gift cards and wire transfers, the FTC warned people against paying via cryptocurrency and payment apps, both common methods for scammers to bilk their victims.