OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — It's not too late to knock out some holiday shopping, but don't let the last minute rush distract you into falling victim to a scam.
Online shopping can make holiday shopping easier, but it can also open you up to scammers. If that deal-of- the-year is on a web site you've never heard of, beware.
"So high-end items that are being sold at a very deep discount rate, you may never receive the item," says Kristi Koons Johnson, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Omaha Field Office.
She says be leary of web sites that simply don't look legitimate. Perhaps you notice typos or a web address that is close to a real retailer but slightly altered, then steer clear.
Another sure fire way to spot a scam is if they don't want you to pay with a credit card.
"You think that you're buying something and the vendor is requesting that you pay them in gift cards so you purchase gift cards and send them photos of the gift cards and that's part of the scam that they're running," Johnson said.
She says in 2018, victims of fraud claimed they were out a total of $500 million. In Nebraska and Iowa, that loss was $24 million. And those are just the losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Johnson reminds people to check your bank account frequently to make sure there aren't any unusual charges.
The FBI offers more advice to keep you safe from holiday schemes, here.
