Your Money Jax: FBI issuing warnings about holiday shopping scams, how you can avoid them

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — We are officially in the holiday season, and while it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, for scammers, it can be the most profitable time of the year.

This is why the FBI is putting out warnings about holiday scams.

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Action News Jax’s Phil Amato broke down the warnings and different techniques thieves are using to trick you.

The FBI said that although scamming happens year-round, it becomes a bigger issue during the holidays. Whether it’s through charity, online shopping or social media, everyone needs to do some investigating before clicking.

“The scammers are pretty crafty,” said Kira Boyd with the FBI. “We really want people to be wary of clicking on links. If you didn’t order a package … If you didn’t order something from Amazon and then you get an unsolicited message saying that something is wrong and asking for information, it’s probably a scam.”

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Scams using social media are tricky to spot. Consumers need to be aware of sites that offer vouchers or gift cards that appear as holiday promotions or contests. They may seem to come from a friend who shared a link.

Often, these tactics are to get you to provide personal information by taking a survey.

“Take a step back and do some investigating,” said Boyd. “If you see that a vendor has a great deal, go directly to the merchant’s website and see if the deal matches up with what is in the ad.”

Read: Your Money Jax: Tips on how you can protect yourself from porch pirates

If you are a victim of a scam, there are some things you can do. First, go to the merchant and report it. Report it to your bank and credit card company, and then you can call the FBI.

The FBI has a special website set up where they will take all the information and all the data and put it into a larger database so that they can learn from it.

Read: Your Money Jax: October Jobs Report shows that more Americans are working multiple jobs

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