More and more shoppers are heading online this year to get their shopping done, but with holiday deals comes holiday scams.<\/p>\n
6 New spoke with Troy Baker, the director of the Better Business Bureau serving Western Michigan Education Foundation about what scams to be on the lookout for this year.<\/p>\n
Baker says in 2015, of all the scams reported to the Better Business Bureau of people losing money, only 13% were online purchase scams. In 2020, that number was more than 60%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of people reporting scams where they lost money to an online purchase has jumped dramatically over the past five years and is only going to grow as more and more people turn to online shopping,\u201d Baker added.<\/p>\n
While every social media advertisement isn\u2019t a scam, Baker says it\u2019s the most common way people can get ripped-off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re scrolling through Facebook or scrolling through Instagram, see something they like, click it, buy it and then it never shows up,\u201d said Baker.<\/p>\n
He says it\u2019s fine to be interested and look at products through a social media ad, but when it comes to buying them\u2026.\u201dfind that on a website that you already know and trust, it\u2019s fine to identify those items that you\u2019re interested in while you\u2019re on social media,\u201d said Baker.<\/p>\n
He says they\u2019re getting more and more complaints about online businesses that take you\u2019re money and then disappear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have experience on that website, you really should do some more looking and find it someplace that you do know is doing to get it to you in time and to just get it to you,\u201d Baker added.<\/p>\n
Baker suggests using a credit card if you make an online purchase, so you have a better chance to getting your money back if something does go wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you send cash, if you use a wire transfer, if you use a gift card, that money is gone and there is not a good way of getting that back so anytime you\u2019re buying something online, use that credit card and then keep an eye on your statements to make sure you\u2019re not getting additional charges,\u201d said Baker.<\/p>\n
Tuesday is also Giving Tuesday and Baker says to be aware of any calls from people claiming to be a charity or non-profit asking for a donation. He says they might not be who they say they are or the money might not be going where you think. If you do want to donate to a charity or non-profit on Tuesday, Baker suggest to start researching who you\u2019d like to give to and make sure they\u2019re real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More and more shoppers are heading online this year to get their shopping done, but with holiday deals…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n