Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Holiday Tips

Although not everyone celebrates Christmas or even when the new year starts, this is the time of year when you'll be receiving a lot of mail, phone calls and emails asking you to spend or donate your money. And although I do support legitimate sale offers and charities, you need to be aware that not every solicitation for money is legit.

The fact is: this is not only the busiest time of the year for legitimate merchants and charities, it's also the one of the busiest and best times of the year for scam artiest.

Now I won't go into details about the newest scams since I can't keep up with them however you can see a list of some of more popular ones here and 1 of the latest ones here.

So rather than try to list the current on and off line scams, I am going to give you some tips on how to protect yourself, your credit cards and your money.

No matter where you live or what holidays you celebrate you need to know these things to...

Protect yourself from becoming a victim.

  • Read the "21 tips to protect yourself from being a victim of credit card fraud" provided by ScamBusters.org.

  • Read the "Security Tips and Fraud Prevention" provided by PapPal.com.

  • Never, I repeat Never click a link in an email to access any of your online accounts that contain personal information. Always type in the web address yourself to access these accounts.

  • Do not give out your credit card information to someone who has called you. While many legitimate charities do phone solicitations, you don't really know who is making the call or who may be listening. If you want to make a donation, ask them to send you a donation card or bill.

  • When you make an online purchase, always make sure the payment site is a "secure" site.

  • Impulse shopping is at it's highest during the holidays. Everyone and their brother is trying to sell something. And yes, some of them are really great deals and some are things you may really want to buy. However, you need to stay in control of yourself and your wallet and only buy those things you plan to use or give as gifts while staying within your means. No matter how good the deal or how much you really "want" to have it or "want" to give it away, if you can't afford it - don't buy it.

  • Those convenient "Gift Cards" make nice gifts however:

    * Like credit cards, if someone has the card number and duplicates the card, they can use your gift before you've had the chance to give it.

    * The stores love you to purchase gift cards because they make money whether the card is used or not. And there was a lot of money made last Christmas with unused gift cards and there will be more made this year.

Please use the above information to protect yourself not only this holiday season but through the next and future years.

Please feel free to leave your comments about this tip and offer any additional suggestion you may have.

Wishing you a prosperous 2008!
Susan

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