Expect a Spike in Scam Attempts During the Holidays

Scams have become a part of our everyday lives, unfortunately: Between the phishing emails and texts from people pretending to be government officials or online retailers needing your personal information and robocalls warning of money owed, it can be exhausting. And these criminals don’t rest during the season of goodwill. In fact, they seem to work even harder to perpetrate fraud, according to a new AARP Fraud Watch Network report. ​ ​

The AARP survey of 1,880 U.S. consumers age 18 and older, detailed in the report, “Holiday Fraud: Fight Back Against Joy-Stealing Criminals,” finds that this year 80 percent of U.S. consumers have experienced or been targeted by at least one form of the frauds that are rampant during the holidays, including requests from (often fake) charities, online shopping scams and fraudulent communications about delivery problems. And a higher percentage of older adults (age 65 and up) report having experienced or been targeted by holiday-related scams this year (78 percent) than last year (69 percent).​

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The survey included a fraud knowledge quiz (see questions below), where respondents scored lower than they did last year. Only 28 percent of respondents answered seven or more of the 10 true-or-false questions correctly.​

“We see two important findings in this year’s survey,” says Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs at AARP. “One is that fraud is on the rise, and the other is that our knowledge of how to stay safe is falling.”​​

Highlights from the survey​:

• Fifty-three percent of respondents have received a notification from someone saying they are from the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx or UPS about a shipment issue, and it turned out to be fraudulent. That’s up from 29 percent in 2022.​
• Thirty percent of respondents have had a package stolen from outside their doors.​
• Thirty-five percent received a donation request in the past year that seemed fraudulent.​
• Thirty-eight percent have experienced fraud when trying to buy a product through an online ad.​
• Twelve percent of travelers experienced fraud when booking a trip.​
• More than 1 in 4 (27 percent) have given or received a gift card with no balance.​
• Most (89 percent) agree that lawmakers need to do more to protect consumers from fraud and scams.​

Gift cards are a favorite holiday item for giving and receiving, but they are also a favorite among fraud criminals. According to Stokes, “The survey found that 1 in 4 consumers have either given or received a card with no value on it. While some of this could be error, much is likely low-tech in-store manipulation of cards or high-tech tracking of card values online and draining them.” ​​