Again, I find myself saying, “where has the year gone?” After a very busy 2024, we are coming into the holiday season. Malls, online shopping, lots of goodies, and perhaps travel, will be on our credit cards in January. As we are out and about, or flipping plastic, it is important to stay safe. Here are some tips that we can consider in order to be safer from scams and criminals.

First, let’s look at online shopping. It’s a big deal. From scammers to porch pirates, we have to be on our guard. Last year, an estimated 250 plus billion dollars were spent online for the holidays. Over 12 billion dollars in porch pirate thefts were recorded in 2023. That is a lot of money. In the USA alone, there were over 460 billion dollars of fraud in 2023.

Before going online to shop, are your computers and phone devices up to date on their operating systems (Windows, Android, etc.)? If not, make sure you update them, which will give you the latest known protections against hacks. Don’t forget to keep your anti-virus software up to date too. If you haven’t done it already, get a malware protection software app too, like Malware Bytes. They have a great free version and a paid version that will catch things like spyware that some anti-virus programs do not.

Be careful where you buy from. Don’t buy from a “store” in an email link. Consider never leaving your credit card information on a store’s database, in case they are hacked. Data breaches are everywhere. Yahoo in 2013, 2014, First American Financial in 2019, Facebook in 2019 is just the tip of the iceberg. And remember to look at the web address you are on (at the top of the screen). If it doesn’t have a https (instead of an http) at the beginning, bail out ASAP! And it is important not to use public WI-FI to make purchases. Your local pizza maker is the best ever, but self-installing a wireless router for his customers is not like making dough!

But let’s turn our attention to shopping in person. Just as with most of the tips above, this series of tips are well known to all. We just need a reminder once in a while, right?

You need to think about how you look to a potential crook. If you are dressed extremely well, wearing expensive jewelry, and distracted with your phone or kids, you may get noticed and watched. Ladies, if you have to carry a purse, secure it. You also need to keep your head on swivel in the parking lots. FBI statistics indicate there are almost 2000 violent crimes every week in parking lots or when walking to a building (stores mostly). Herd mentality is good advice here – shop with other adults when you can. A group is not a good target for most thieves who are looking for soft targets. A parent carrying armloads of gifts is a gift to thieves. Keep yourself free to run or fight. 

Try not to use ATM’s, even if it is a drive up. ATMs are watering holes for bad actors. Be sure to have a record of your credit cards at home in case they are stolen or lost. It will speed up the important task of canceling the cards before too much damage is done.

And most importantly, try not to shop at night.

I hope this reminder list of common-sense safety tips is helpful to you and from all the folks at PARKERTECHGROUP, we hope you have a merry and safe Christmas and holiday season this year!