Now emerging is the so-called Christmas Scam in the new year and cybersecurity professionals are advising that it is an operation designed to capture your banking details. This scam usually comes in through emails and messages, or phone calls, making it difficult for many people to avoid. During the festive season, they take advantage of people’s charitable nature, and this is usually in disguise of a well-known organization or charity.
Beware: Christmas Scam Targets Your Bank Account This Holiday Season
The scam works in a form of what experts call Affinity scam, where the criminals pretend to be members of legit charities in a bid to con victims out of their money or other personal identifiers. The receive money by saying that they are representatives of popular charitable organizations that the victim donates to, and use this info to get to the accounts. This makes it especially risky, to boot, many may feel compelled to pay back during festive occasions such as Christmas.
According to the specialists, this sort of scam needs to be in focus even when it is not associated with Christmas. These articles contain the techniques used throughout the year, but, you will find they work throughout the year as scammers change their modus operandi based on the event or time of year. Therefore, it is crucial to be on the look after the holiday season has come to a close.
It is for such reasons that there are expectations that prospective contributors ought to ensure the credibility of the charity agencies before contributing. This can be accomplished by visiting the charities website, calling, or writing to the charity, or by going to other charity evaluators or watchdogs. Do not respond to strange links in emails or share one’s details with strange phone calls.
Bur, with such calls as the “Christmas Scam” emerging in the market, it is important to keep abreast and wary. As a result of safe online behavior, or when one receives such messages or offers, they should challenge the validity of such incidents to avoid falling victims to fraudsters. Security professionals recommend people be even more cautious during the remainder of the year, specifically around the holiday season, because con artists will never run out of tricks.
Scammers Exploit Holiday Generosity with Fake Charities, Warns Expert
Paul Bischoff, a cybersecurity expert, has warned people that scammers are taking advantage of the holiday season by posing as real charities to defraud people. As quoted in The Sun, Bischoff said that the period when people are most likely to donate money with the onset of Christmas is particularly dangerous. The best way to prevent being a victim of these scams is to try and check the authenticity of any charitable organisation, prior to donating to them, whether through the internet or via phone calls.
These con artists setup a website with a genuine looking domain or can make phone calls impersonating large charity organizations. It takes advantage of people’s kindness especially during festive season when people think about the needy and show generosity. It also allows them to easily defraud their victims, given that they portray themselves as charitable organizations which the victims then eliminate from their financial plans.
Research conducted by the Charities Aid Foundation reveals that British people will be able to donate £2.8 billion for different charities during November and December. This causes a largely increased flow of funds received, which is a perfect environment for fraudsters to attract people who are maybe overfilled with holiday campaigns and are willing to donate. One may become a prey to such dubious campaigns as more charitable campaigns are launched, S.
Concerned citizens are encouraged to investigate the charities they intend to give their money to. One can find some relevant information on the organization’s legitimacy on charity review websites or official websites that belong to the charity. Also one should avoid giving anonymous phone calls or emails, requesting for money with no explanation with a feeling of urgency.
As gifts given to charities and other nonprofits are expected to be at their all time high in the holiday season, security firms have sounded a cautious note. People should not let their guard down when donating to charities because the so-called charity businesses exist for the aim of making profit during that time of the year. Prevention is important so that the intended organizations will benefit from the donations provided right places.
Experts Warn Against Holiday Scams Preying on Charitable Donations
The last two months of the year are particularly important in terms of charitable giving because the monetary campaigns reach their highest in the Christmas season. Indeed, it is on this opportunity that most charitable organizations depend on to finance their programmes for the following year. But this behaviour raises its peak during the holidays, although it is beneficial for people to be more generous, it is also a hunting ground for fraudsters. Therefore, people should be more careful when they are offered to donate during the holiday period.
Many charities use this time of the year and more so the holidays to contact potential patrons, have their campaigns to create awareness of the organizations and encourage the public to support. On the one hand, there are numerous examples of organizations that indeed receive large contributions, yet on the other hand, the surge in activity means that it is a perfect ground for scams. There are always cases, wherein scammers are counterfeiting the looks of legit organizations that deal with charity.
The agency and its experts have called on the donors to refrain from clicking the links that they receive from unknown parties that seek donations. Such links may lead visitors to fake sites developed with the purpose of embezzling visitors’ personal data, credit card numbers or on-line bank account details. One of the best ways to protect oneself is to follow all protocol procedures of normal online fraud: check whether the worked charity is genuine.
To avoid became victim of a fake charity, experts advise checking the origin of a given charity via Internet or by using special applications that show whether it really works or not. They also discourage the disclosure of personal information over the phone or through emails if the request made appears to be a little too urgent or contains highly appealing promises.
When the holiday season is being approached people are advised to be cautious when they are being called upon to be charitable. As a result, potential donors are urged to be cautious and secure their charities carefully so that they do not fall victim to fraudsters and contribute their money to worthy causes.
