The 12 scams of Christmas - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

The 12 scams of Christmas

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ALBANY, GA (WALB) -

As you scramble to find the best deals, with just 10 shopping days until Christmas... Remember the old adage that if it seems too good to be true... it probably is.

McAfee developed a list to help protect consumers... and warn them sometimes great deals are just scams wrapped up in a pretty package.

When Ronnie Fowler got a text message that appeared to be a great holiday gift, he was suspicious right away.  "I've never won anything I registered for, so I knew I never won anything I didn't register for. I got a buzz on my phone and it said to go to this website targetwinner.com and claim a $1,000 gift card from Target."

After doing a little research, it turned out to be a big scam. "They wanted your name address email all this stuff…"

Thankfully, he didn't fall for it, but he wanted to warn others before they did. "Oh sure, I could sure use a $1,000 gift card from anywhere and I'm sure there are several other people who would love to have it."

 So before you click on that hot holiday deal, make sure they didn't make this list, detailing the 12 scams of Christmas.

Number 12- Bogus Gift Card offers, Be cautious of third party gift cards, instead buy directly from a retailer. 

Number 11- Phony Classified Ads. If they ask for too much personal information or ask for money, don't respond.

Number 10- Dangerous E-Cards, what looks like a holiday greeting may be a virus just waiting to infect your computer.

Number 9- Phony website, like targetwinner.com, double check the IP address to make sure it is a valid website.  

Number 8- Texts, like the one Ronnie got, pretending to be a legitimate organization luring you into divulging personal information.

Number 7- Skype  messages that infect the computer.

Number 6- Fake charities.

Number Five- iPods or iPads holiday deals, offering expensive items and very low prices.

Number 4- Holiday Spam.

Number 3- Travel scams offering amazing deals on a normally expensive trips.

Number 2- Malicious Mobile Apps, that aren't purchased from an official App store.

And number one on the list- Social media scams. Be careful when liking posts, or clicking on deals that require you to share with friends.