Along with being a season for gathering with family and friends and having a jolly good time, the winter holidays are what consumer watchdog Jonathan Liebert calls “Super Bowl time” for scammers. Unscrupulous criminals have no qualms about preying on the kind-hearted or gullible, according to Liebert, CEO and executive director of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado. Fake charities and fraudulent retail websites, texts, emails and phone calls that just don’t seem right flourish around the holidays and can crush joy and revelry. “We’ve seen a lot more in the last few years,” Liebert said. “They either pop up when everybody’s in a good mood or when there’s a natural disaster anywhere in the world.” Online scams are the No. 1 scam in America, he said. That’s why Liebert advises charitable givers and online consumers to keep the same kind of vigilance they do as anticipating Santa to ward off a not-so-merry duping. “They are targeting us. Be careful. They know we give money here.” Fake charities can appear as deceitful claims of someone or a group collecting money for philanthropic reasons. “We’re going to give money to this cause and need your help,” is a typical appeal. Some 100 falsified charities materialized when the war between Russia and Ukraine started nearly four years ago, Liebert said, for example. “People just make up a charity, and Americans will donate — we’re the most giving country on the planet,” he said. “People have good intentions, and bad people take advantage of that.” Donors often don’t check to make sure they’re giving their hard-earned money to a reliable and true charity, he said. But they should. Another version is the copycat or impersonation of a real charity’s website that’s actually a spoof. “You may think you’re giving to a known charity — the website may look the same as a prominent existing nonprofit,” Liebert said. But always check the website’s main address bar at the top of the page because if it contains a misspelling or something’s off, it’s not real, Liebert said. Locally, some people report that they’ve fallen for phishing scams — an email or text message that tries to obtain your personal information, such as your date of birth and credit card number. “We’ve seen fake GoFundMe pages,” Liebert said. “People want you to click on a link, and that’s where the phishing comes in.” Doing so gives the scammer access to your online data. “If you do click, make sure it’s a valid address and website that appears,” Liebert said. Also, credible nonprofits ask for payment by check or credit card, he said. If a charity wants payment in crypto, a gift card or money order, that’s a big, waving red flag. Donors can double check the validity of an organization with an online tool such as Charity Navigator or the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, which verify the trustworthiness of publicly soliciting charities. “Do your research, pay with a credit card, so you have a little recourse if something happens and you try to get your money back,” Liebert said. “They don’t need things like your bank number or Social Security number. It should be a normal transaction; if it seems weird and off, trust your gut.” Fraudulent websites usually for shopping are more prevalent than fake charities, he added. If you see a popular product offered for an incredible deal — if it’s too good to be true and you need to act immediately to get the sale price — there’s a high chance it’s a scam. “They’re trying to get you to buy something that’s fake,” Liebert said. This season, look for misleading sites advertising very inexpensive video game consoles, toys, stuffed animals, real animals and other products. “When PlayStation 5 came out, there were fake websites, and most people who ordered didn’t get anything but some people reported getting a PlayStation 5 box with a brick inside,” Liebert mentioned. ...read more read less