Overview
Holiday scams use seasonal shopping, travel, charitable giving, deliveries, temporary employment, and family communication as opportunities to steal money, account credentials, or personal information.
These scams are not limited to a particular holiday. They may appear whenever people are making more purchases, expecting packages, traveling, donating, buying tickets, or responding quickly to messages from friends and family.
A holiday offer, delivery notice, fundraiser, or urgent family request may look convincing. Scammers can copy logos and product photos, create professional-looking websites, impersonate real organizations, and use information found online. The safest response is to slow down and verify the request through a source you already trust.
How It Works
Common holiday scams include:
- Fake shopping websites and advertisements. A site or social-media advertisement offers popular products at unusually low prices. The buyer may receive a counterfeit or low-quality item, receive nothing, or have payment information stolen.
- Non-delivery and marketplace scams. A seller requests payment outside the marketplace or through a method with limited buyer protection, then does not provide the item.
- Fake delivery notices. An email or text claims that a package is delayed, an address must be corrected, or a small redelivery fee is due. The link leads to a phishing page or fraudulent payment form.
- Gift card scams. Someone impersonates a supervisor, relative, government agency, or business and demands gift cards as payment or asks for the card numbers and PINs.
- Charity scams. A fraudulent fundraiser uses a holiday, disaster, or emotional story to pressure people into donating without verifying where the money will go.
- Travel, rental, and ticket scams. A fake listing offers lodging, transportation, or event tickets that do not exist or are not valid.
- Seasonal employment scams. A fake employer collects personal information, sends a fraudulent check, charges an upfront fee, or asks the applicant to move money or packages.
- Family-emergency impersonation scams. A caller or message claims that a relative is in trouble and needs immediate money. Artificial intelligence and information from social media can make the story or voice sound more convincing.
The details vary, but the scam usually creates urgency and directs you to a link, payment method, or communication channel controlled by the scammer.
Warning Signs
Be cautious when you encounter:
- A price that is far below what established sellers are charging.
- A store or seller that has little history, incomplete contact information, copied text, or an unfamiliar website address.
- An advertisement that leads to a website different from the retailer named in the ad.
- A seller who asks you to leave a marketplace's payment system or communicate only through a private messaging application.
- A request to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency, wire transfer, cash, or another difficult-to-reverse method.
- A delivery message you were not expecting, especially one requesting a fee, password, or personal information.
- A charity request that pressures you to donate immediately or will not explain how the money will be used.
- An urgent message from a relative or friend that asks for secrecy or says not to contact anyone else.
- A seasonal job that requires payment, sends a check for equipment, or asks you to use your personal account for business transactions.
- A request for a password, MFA code, Social Security number, bank information, or identity document before the organization has been independently verified.
A polished website, familiar logo, local caller ID, positive review, or accurate personal detail does not prove that an offer or request is legitimate.
How to Protect Yourself
- Go directly to the seller or service. Use a known website or official application instead of following a link from an unexpected advertisement, email, text, or QR code.
- Research unfamiliar sellers. Search for the company or website name with terms such as “complaint,” “review,” or “scam.” Look at multiple sources rather than relying only on reviews displayed by the seller.
- Compare prices. An unusually low price may be used to make you act before checking the seller.
- Review the return, refund, and shipping terms before paying. Save the order confirmation and product description.
- Use a payment method with appropriate protections. Avoid payment methods that the seller requires specifically because they are difficult to reverse.
- Keep marketplace transactions on the platform. Leaving the platform may remove payment and dispute protections.
- Verify delivery notices independently. Open the carrier's official application or type its known website address and enter the tracking number there.
- Verify urgent family requests separately. Contact the person using a number or account you already know. Involve another trusted person rather than keeping the request secret.
- Check charities before donating. Use the organization's official website and research where the donation will go.
- Protect account credentials. Do not provide a password or MFA code to complete a purchase, delivery, refund, or customer-service request.
- Review financial statements and enable transaction alerts. Promptly investigate charges you do not recognize.
What You Should Do at UM
If a holiday-related message arrives through your UM email account or impersonates a UM employee, department, or service:
- Do not click links, open attachments, reply, or send money or information.
- Verify the request through an official UM website, the UM directory, or another contact method you already trust.
- Use Outlook's Report Message tool and report a suspicious email as phishing. Delete the message after reporting it. The Report Message tool may remove it automatically.
- Contact the UM IT Helpdesk or UM Information Security Office if the message involves a UM account, device, employee, department, financial process, or university data.
If you entered your UM password on an unfamiliar site, shared an MFA code, or approved an unexpected MFA request, change your UM password through the normal UM account-management process and contact the UM IT Helpdesk or UM Information Security Office.
If the incident involves a UM purchasing card, university payment, vendor, or other financial process, stop the transaction and contact the appropriate UM financial or business office through a trusted method. Also notify the UM Information Security Office when a suspicious message or account was involved.
For a personal purchase, delivery, donation, travel booking, or family request that does not involve UM, contact the relevant merchant, marketplace, carrier, financial institution, payment provider, or platform directly. UM support does not administer personal accounts or transactions, but UM should still be notified when a UM account, device, message, identity, or business process was involved.
Additional Questions
For a holiday scam involving a UM account, UM device, university data, or UM business process, contact the UM IT Helpdesk and the UM Information Security Office. Involve the relevant UM financial or business office when university funds or a UM payment process are involved.
For a personal holiday scam:
- Contact the merchant, marketplace, delivery carrier, travel provider, or fundraising platform through its official website or application.
- Contact your bank, credit union, card issuer, or payment provider immediately if you sent money or see an unauthorized transaction.
- Report a fraudulent advertisement, seller, account, or message to the platform where it appeared.
- Contact your mobile carrier about scam text messages and use your email provider's reporting tools for phishing email.
- Use IdentityTheft.gov when someone has used, or is likely to misuse, identifying information such as your Social Security number or identity documents. A routine shopping dispute or suspicious message alone does not require an identity-theft report.
- Report consumer fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.
Additional Resources