With Christmas just around the corner, the “sales” and Christmas offer scam emails are in full swing. These “opportunities” range from “holiday flooring specials” to holiday gift baskets to sales at Tiffany’s to digitized memories and more. Here are just a few examples you should avoid.
Christmas Tree Ornaments
This email offers Custom Christmas Tree Ornaments “Now 25% Off! – Always Free Personalization.” They claim to have exclusive Christmas ornaments that are “Photo, Glass – And More.”
Holiday Gift Baskets
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Tiffany’s Discounts
Offering deals on merchandise from Tiffany’s with a “Merry Christmas up to 85% off” sale, this email urges you to buy soon so you can receive your merchandise in time for Christmas.
Bottom line on a Christmas offer scam
With all three of these emails, I first wonder how they got my email address. Second, I wonder whether I’ll receive the merchandise in question since I don’t really know anything about the people behind the emails. And, last, if these people are buying my information, why wouldn’t they also sell it once I placed an order.
Quite simply put, the message during the holidays is exactly the same as it is during the rest of the year. We never know when the email is really a Christmas offer scam and when it’s legitimate. So, if you don’t know the person sending the email, don’t click the link. And, if you do know the person sending the email, make sure they’re the real sender. It’s easy to spoof email addresses and something that looks like it came from a friend might actually be from someone else.
No matter how good the deal may sound, it’s best to buy from a reputable retailer and always use a credit card to make payment. Taking these simple steps will ensure you receive what you expected to buy, have recourse in case something does go wrong, and avoid a Christmas offer scam that might ruin your holidays.
