Surge in Holiday Season Fraud

With the busy holiday season approaching, you might be more distracted with 
shopping, donating, or sending money online. Scammers take advantage of this busy time and we see increases in many types of fraud.We’ve outlined some scams to beware of:

Holiday mail & delivery scams
With a lot of packages being sent over the holidays, shippers will often provide updates 
on the status of orders and deliveries. Knowing this, scammers will send phishing emails 
pretending to be from companies like the USPS, FedEx and UPS to lure their targets to 
phony webpages and get them to share personal information. 

Holiday shopping scams
Lots of holiday deals are launched – many on social media – but not all are as legitimate 
as they seem. It’s easy to hit the “buy or submit” button on the phone or laptop but it is 
critical for consumers to carefully read reviews, look for security credentials on websites, 
and research unfamiliar retailers before taking an advantage of a discount.

Charity & investment scams
Scammers attempt to take advantage of times of uncertainty to con people into giving up 
their money to aid those in need – like disaster relief and other charity scams.

Investment scams
Fraudulent schemes that trick individuals into putting money into fake opportunities with 
false promises of high, guaranteed returns and little to no risk. Fraudsters use 
sophisticated tactics, including leveraging social media and artificial intelligence (AI), to 
gain trust and steal funds, ultimately leaving victims with significant financial losses.

Tech support scams
Someone calls and says they’re a computer technician – maybe from a well-known 
company like Microsoft or Apple, or maybe your internet service provider. They tell the targeted individual that there are viruses or malware on their computer, and it is 
necessary to provide remote computer access or buy new software to fix it. These 
scammers might want to sell your members useless services, steal card or account 
numbers, or get access to a computer to install malware, which could then let them see 
everything.

Imposter scams
Fraudsters take advantage of trust between family members, loved ones, potential 
romances, and the threat of law enforcement. Most romance scams start with fake 
profiles on online dating sites created by stealing photos and content from real accounts 
or elsewhere. Some of the fictitious occupations include working on an oil rig, in the 
military, or as a doctor with an international organization.

Deepfakes are also paving the way for identity theft and scams on an unprecedented 
scale. Fraudsters use AI and other deepfake technologies to convincingly make it appear 
an individual is saying or doing something that they didn’t.

Quick tips:

• Don’t always trust the name - fraudsters will spoof the email name, phone numbers, and web page URLs to appear to be legitimate
• Be cautious of clicking links and opening attachments – Don’t click unless you are confident of the sender or are expecting the attachment 
• Do not provide personal or account information when asked. Openly sharing information on social media can provide the necessary information to impersonate you or answer some challenge questions.
• Do not share a one-time passcode sent via text or email to your device(s)
• Be suspicious of “urgent” or “immediate” response needed or “unauthorized login attempt” of your account messages
• Be wary of offers that appear too good to be true, require fast action, or instill a sense of fear 
• Keep social media accounts private and be cautious who you’re connecting with
• Never share anything related to your credit union account, transactional history, or identifying information in an unprotected public forum
• Always report suspicious activity to the credit union as soon as possible