Due to the global chip shortage, the cost of purchasing electronics is on the rise. This holiday season, prices for electronics will be higher than usual, causing many people to look for listings for these goods elsewhere. When deal hunting, it’s important to understand the red flags to be on the lookout for this holiday season.<\/p>\n
The pandemic altered how everyone in the world lived their lives for more than a year. More people were working from home than ever before, which meant that more people needed laptops than ever before. This was the cause of the chip shortage. This is because every electronic needs what is known as a semi-conductor. These semiconductors are only made in a few places in the world because they are so difficult to manufacture. Once the demand for all of the laptops hit, a shortage in the previous chips made all other electronics more difficult to make. If you’ve been on a car lot recently, you may have noticed how expensive used cars are at the moment.<\/p>\n
Whenever goods become less available, shoppers look to third-party sellers or resellers to find what they’re looking for, which means the number of scams increase. It’s important to understand how these scams work in order to understand how to avoid<\/a> them. Tha<\/p>\n Phishing Scams can be the most devastating type of scam. A phishing scam is when someone puts up a fake website to get your personal information. While looking for a good that relies on a chip to run, you might find yourself on a tech website that seems to have the lowest price for a new iPhone that you can find. You go to check out and enter your credit card<\/a> information and get a fake email notification saying your order has been confirmed. Now the scammers have all of your payment info<\/a> and can start using it around the internet and commit identity fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n The victims click on an item to buy on the website for a good deal, and the website asks for personal and financial information. Once the victims give up their personal and financial information, the scammer can then steal it to commit identity theft<\/a> and drain their bank accounts.<\/a><\/p>\n In some instances, the fake websites<\/a> that are mentioned above require that you pay for their items using a gift card<\/a> or wire transfer<\/a>. This is because these methods of payment are untraceable, making it nearly impossible for the victims to get their money back. Any online store requesting a wire transfer is a red flag. Encountering this is a sure sign that it is time to shop somewhere else. When it comes to making purchases with gift cards, you should stick to using them in stores with familiar reputations. Using a gift card from a large store like Bets Buy is likely to be fine, but using gift cards for a small store that you’ve never heard of before could potentially leave you vulnerable to scams.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-17-at-4.08.50-PM.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n Even when you are shopping on an official online retail store, such as Amazon<\/a> or Best Buy, there are instances where data breaches<\/a> happen. Data breaches<\/a> are where scammers hack into a store’s security system and steal stored credit card information, account information, and personal information from customers.<\/p>\n With this information, they can take a customer’s credit card information and commit credit card fraud<\/a> by stealing your money<\/a> or buying things for themselves on online stores. They can also commit identity theft<\/a> with this information.<\/p>\n This could happen for numerous reasons. The first reason is that someone stole the package off your doorstep before you could realize that it arrived. The second reason is that the item never shipped in the first place, and the scammer just took your money without providing you with a package<\/a> in return.<\/p>\n The third reason is that your package got lost in transit, which is why it’s important to keep tracking your package with your tracking code. If you didn’t receive a tracking code or an email with tracking information, this is a huge red flag that you bought a fake item that isn’t coming and you were involved in a scam.<\/p>\n1. Holiday Online Shopping Phishing Scams<\/h3>\n
2. Paying With a Gift Card or Wire Transfer<\/h3>\n
3. Data Breaches and Credit Card Fraud<\/h3>\n
4. Not Receiving Your Item<\/h3>\n
How to Avoid Holiday Online Shopping Scams<\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Woman-shopping-online-for-christmas-471395-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n
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Social Catfish is Here to Help You<\/h2>\n