Staying safe from scammers as holiday shopping season begins

NEW YORK - For internet thieves across the world, the holiday season is the best time to scam consumers.

“A - because they’re spending money and B - because they’re a little bit more fast-moving, not thinking, not as careful as they might be otherwise,” cybersecurity expert Joseph Steinberg told FOX 5 NY.

A popular, easy and prevalent scheme creates a near-identical webpage of a legitimate e-retailer, be it Apple, Amazon or Walmart. The sites sell items that the scammers don’t have and will never be delivered, so that the thieves can steal consumer data like credit card numbers.

“Criminals also place ads all over social media,” Steinberg said. 

To avoid this seasonal online minefield of scams, experts advise that you just slow down, double check URLs and not provide any information that seems unnecessary.