Cyber scams to watch out for this holiday season

The holiday shopping season has become the most wonderful time of the year for scammers.

Jorij Abraham, CEO of ScamAdviser.com and managing director of the Global Scam Alliance, says shoppers should stay vigilant in avoiding online scams when making holiday purchases.

Abraham says it doesn’t matter your age or education level; anyone can be scammed. Scammers are good at exploiting people, and Abraham urges folks not to feel ashamed if they fall victim to the deception.

“Scammers are very, very good. They are able to social engineer us. We are not the first victim of a scammer. He has done this a thousand times and has continuously improved his story. He knows exactly which buttons to press,” Abraham says. “They share guidebooks online on the dark web, giving instructions on what to do in which situation, to just press the right buttons and make us vulnerable.”

Know how artificial intelligence has made scams more sophisticated.

Abraham says that with the rise of AI, scams can feel more realistic. In a survey of 58,000 consumers worldwide, he says, “An incredible number of people say, ‘Yes, I've received a text message, which was brilliantly spelled, fully correct,’ or, ‘I received a voice message, which felt a little bit artificial or even a deepfake videos.’ Especially with romance scams, we see that AI is being used to show a video of a person and that person does not exist.”

Be wary of calls or messages from big retailers like Amazon.

Often, a scammer will call or message you saying your account was associated with an expensive purchase at a retailer like Amazon. You’ll be prompted to give your credit card information for a ‘refund,’ but obtaining that and other personal financial information is the goal of the scammer. If you get a call like this, Abraham says to stop and think critically before taking any action.

“Contact your friends and family, look at it together and determine, is this just a good deal or is this not good,” Abraham says. “Take time to investigate.”

If you do get scammed, report it to the police.

Abraham admits that law enforcement may not be able to do much for your individual case, but he says, “Reporting it allows the police to aggregate all the data and then really try to find and get the scammer.”