BBB: 12 Scams of Christmas

The holiday season is a time when families get together to celebrate Christmas. The Better Business Bureau says scammers work extra hard during the holidays to prey on consumers. The BBB released their 12 Scams of Christmas which highlights some of the top scams such as fake websites, puppy scams and romance scams.

Wes Lafortune, the Media and Communications Specialist with the Southern Alberta BBB says they found that this year more than $380 million has been lost to online shopping scams across North America. He says only five per cent of those who were defrauded of funds reported the scams.

“We’re talking about $300-400 million in losses. That actually translates into a lot more than that. Probably 20 times more. We’re talking about billions of dollars then of losses. So this is a huge problem. The more people people get to know how to shop safely online, use your research, work with reputable online retailers. Watch for that HTTPS secure websites. If you do those things, you’re going to really go a long way to protect yourself and your family.”

The Alberta RCMP is also warning of the so-called Grandparents, Grandchild or Emergency Scams which have so far cost Albertans more than $3.5 million in 2022.

For a full list of the BBB’s 12 Scams of Christmas you can visit https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/23497-the-naughty-list-bbbs-12-scams-of-christmas