FBI Warns Pittsburgh Consumers About Holiday Scams

PITTSBURGH, PA — The FBI's Pittsburgh office is warning people not to fall for various scams this holiday season. The two most prevalent scams are non-delivery and non-payment crimes.

In a non-delivery scam, a buyer pays for goods or services they find online, but those items are never received. Conversely, a non-payment scam involves goods or services being shipped, but the seller is never paid.

Locally, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, in 2022 more than 365 victims living in Western PA lost $945,900 in these types of crimes. Through October 2023, more than 290 victims lost $1.6 million.

Other common online shopping scams:

• Scammers often offer too-good-to-be-true deals via phishing e-mails or advertisements. Such schemes may offer brand-name merchandise at extremely low prices or offer gift cards as an incentive. Other sites may offer products at a great price, but the products being sold are not the same as the products advertised.

• Consumers should steer clear of untrustworthy sites or ads offering items at unrealistic discounts or with special coupons. The victims end up paying for an item, give away personal information and credit card details, then receive nothing in return except a compromised or stolen identity.

• Secondary markets for airline miles, gift cards, rewards credits, and other similar products have inadvertently increased the demand for stolen information and boosted its value.

Social media shopping scams:

• Consumers should beware of posts on social media sites that appear to offer vouchers or gift cards. Some may appear as holiday promotions or contests. Others may appear to be from known friends who have shared the link. Often, these scams lead consumers to participate in an online survey that is designed to steal personal information.

• If you click an ad through a social media platform, do your due diligence to check the legitimacy of the website before providing credit card or personal information.