The holidays are a busy time for everyone, including criminals. With so much shopping, vacations, and money flowing everywhere, you can bet criminals are finding ways to make their big score. 

You might be imagining a Home Alone style crook, someone looking to pilfer your presents from under your tree, but these holiday grinches come in all sorts of colors. The most common criminal you need to be on the watch for the is someone looking to either steal your credit card info or your identity. In the rush of holiday spending, many shoppers drop their guard for those “too good to be true” deals and give up private information. 

To help keep you safe, we’ve got some tips to prevent fraud during this holiday season.
 

Pay Attention to Where You Shop Online

The internet is filled with ads, and yours are probably jammed packed with gift suggestions. Especially on social media, you are likely seeing ad after ad for different gifts you probably searched for online. You might see a killer deal, the perfect gift, or just curious what it is and click the ad.

The danger is, anybody can pay for ads and link to their website, including people looking to steal your information. They pay for an ad for a hot item, give a great deal on it, and then wait for the credit card info to come pouring in. Maybe they even have the item and send it to you, but they walk away with valuable information.

When shopping online, be extra careful. There are a few things to examine before making that purchase. First, is the site reputable? If it’s not a major online store like Amazon or Etsy, you need to do some extra homework. Google the website name and reviews. You might find some answers in the results, like other shoppers who have purchased from them, a news story about the site being a scam, or other helpful info.

Also, avoid shopping on sites that look poorly made or have strange URLs. These are both key signs of a site run by a less than honest person looking to make a quick buck.
 

Look For Secured 3rd Party Payment Tools

If you are going to buy a gift on a smaller site, one major green flag is that they use a secure payment tool. A site that just asks you to fill out a few boxes for payment is one to be suspicious of. 

These payment tools include companies like PayPal, Shopify, Square or Stripe, among others. If a site uses these tools, your information is much more safe making a payment. These help companies process credit cards while keeping your credit card numbers private. 
 

Keep Your Money In a Separate Service

Anytime you put your credit card number into a box on a website, there is a risk. If you want to avoid that risk entirely, use a separate payment tool to make your purchases online. 

For example, instead of using a debit or credit card to buy online, put the money into your PayPal, and then use that to make your purchases. That way, they are getting a payment from PayPal, or whatever service you use, and nothing connecting your card to them.

Just be sure to keep your PayPal login info secure also. If you have to create an account with the website, use a different email and password than what you used to login to your PayPal.
 

Actively Monitor and Pause Your Credit Card

Keeping a close eye on your credit card can help you identify and put a stop to fraud. If you're a Pioneer member, you can do this by setting up alerts for transactions with your credit card account, or just check in on it regularly. Make sure you know what each purchase made with the card is.

You should also actively monitor your credit score. Someone can steal your identity and get access to your current credit cards, or open new ones in your name. If you see your score starting to dip, or you get your report and see items that you didn’t do, you might have had your identity stolen.

If you start noticing transactions you didn’t make on the card, you need to act fast. Pioneer members have access to a great tool for this, the Pioneer Card Companion app. Using this app, you can pause your Pioneer credit or debit cards, preventing future purchases. This gives you time to figure out if that purchase is yours, or if somebody has stolen your credit card.
 

Act Quickly If Fraud Is Happening

If you do notice fraud on your credit card, act quickly. Contact your credit card company’s fraud department to get started. They can help you close out your credit card, send you a new one, and counteract the fraudulent charges.

If your identity has been stolen, there are a few steps to take. First, get recent credit reports from all three credit bureaus. That way, you can identify where the fraud is happening. Contact the SSA to get your social security number blocked, preventing the thieves from opening more credit cards. Then, start contacting each credit card company’s fraud department they open a card with and dispute the card and charges.

Another method to fixing fraud is to use an identity and fraud recovery service. Pioneer members get access to an identity theft recovery service as part of their membership. With the help of an identity recovery advocate, you’ll be able to take back your identity quickly. Additionally, anybody in your family who becomes a victim of fraud can utilize this service.

Learn More about Fraud Protection