As Saskatchewan residents get underway with holiday shopping, some organizations are warning about the dangers of shopping online.
Robert Falzon with Check Point Canada said people should watch out for phishing schemes sent via email.
“There’s a lot more consumer spending going on at this time, so there’s a lot more of the population to choose from,” Falzon said.
“People fall prey to these because their guard is down… maybe it’s getting close to Christmas and they’re looking for that perfect gift for somebody.”
He said many scammers will try to look like businesses trying to sell you something through advertisements that have a link that you not be clicked, or they’ll use the ad to try and gain additional information from you.
Falzon said identifying these scam emails is getting harder, noting that one of the only ways you can verify if something is real or not is by going directly to the business’s website and seeing if they have that sale.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said $21.1 million in losses was reported in 2021 relating to frauds associated to buying or selling goods or services online.
Their website lists different kinds of ads being used to scam people, including:
- classified ads sites
- resale sites
- website pop-ups
- fake company websites
Items offered for sale in these scams can be almost anything, including:
- event tickets
- puppies
- electronic equipment
- clothing
- apartment, cottage, or vacation rentals
- motor vehicles
“A good rule of thumb: if the asking price of a product is too good to be true, it is,” read the anti-fraud centre’s website.
Detective Sergeant Kelley Berting with the financial crimes section with the Regina Police Service said there is some increase in online scams during holiday seasons.
She added people should watch out for gift cards as well.
“Christmas is a time when we see the increase in gift card purchases, and what happens with the gift cards is they are tampered with prior to the consumer actually purchasing them from the store,” Berting said.
She said the tampered cards will actually load the money on to the scammers card.
Berting warns that people should be checking the card or the package it comes in to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with before buying it.