CHICO — Oh boy, my favorite time of year.
The time when we all come together as families and friends to give thanks for half-off 55-inch 4K TVs at Best Buy.
Don’t get me wrong, I know I sound awfully judgemental from my high horse, but eight years ago it was my best friend Dave and I freezing in line the night before Black Friday hoping to get some solid deals from Best Buy and laughing under our breathe at the ladies in front of us expressing their excitement for cheap fleece sweaters only to realize we were actually in line for Old Navy.
But I digress. While there is certainly a thrill of buying expensive things on the cheap during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s also the time of year many scammers live for.
Most stores, vendors and online businesses have limited stock of sale items and sometimes intentionally only put certain sales on at certain times throughout the day, which creates a sort of snagging culture where you want to get it in the cart and check out as soon as humanly possible to ensure the purchase.
It’s that little dose of shopping adrenalin that scammers are banking on when trying to make faulty sales.
Cyber security groups such as McAfee issue regular warnings about these kinds of scams once the biggest shopping days of the year hit.
The scams typically pertain to online shopping, especially in relation to packages and shipping, and they come in many forms.
Scammers will set up fake websites or utilize popular buying and selling websites to post what seems like good deals on scarce but popular items. Unfortunately for the buyer, that item will never show up after the payment is processed. If the scammer is using a fake website, you might come back to the link only to find an error page. Be cognitive about who you are buying from and always check for verifications.
Another scamming system revolves around fake packages or fake tracking numbers. You might receive emails from someone pretending to be UPS, USPS or FedEx providing you with information about a package. If you didn’t order anything then you probably know not to click the link or email, but if you have, always be sure to look at who exactly is sending the email. Generally, it will be obvious that the email address is illegitimate.
Be safe, be careful and happy Thanksgiving.
Scam of the Week generally runs every Tuesday. Readers are welcome to contact reporter Jake Hutchison to report scams and potential scams they have come in contact with by calling 828-1329 or via email at jhutchison@chicoer.com.
