Scammers Are Stepping Up Their Game for the Holidays

This holiday season, sleigh bells aren’t the only thing ringing. Scammers will make millions of calls trying to steal your gift money. But this year, they’re armed with a new arsenal of weaponry – your sensitive data.

We just wrapped up our holiday survey and discovered that 15% of those we surveyed have received a personalized scam call. This trend is no surprise – we’ve reported on “Enterprise Spoofing” multiple times this year, a tactic where scammers use stolen data to make their calls seem more legitimate. 75% of the people we talked to said the criminal knew some personal information about them prior to the call.

Fa la la la la, right? But you may be wondering – what does this have to do with the most wonderful time of the year? Well, scammers are hoping to use your holiday spirit against you. They’re parading as charities and hoping you’ll be fooled into “donating” directly into their pockets. In fact, of those who received a fake charity call, nearly 24% experienced financial loss.

We discovered that 30% of those surveyed had gotten a call from someone claiming to be the American Red Cross. Others impersonated by scammers include UNICEF (19%) and The Salvation Army (17%). They even posed as local first responders – nearly 22% reported a call like that. The trend is worrying, especially since people may be wary to donate to legitimate charities. Don’t let scammers kill your holiday cheer, though. The best way to safely support your favorite organizations is to donate directly.

Here are some direct links: