Tips to avoid being scammed while holiday shopping online | CBC News

‘Tis the season — the Phishmas season, that is, says cyber-security expert David Shipley. 

“This is the most wonderful time of year for criminals,” said the CEO of Fredericton-based Beauceron Security.

“This is the season where crime ramps up in concert with the big sales, deals and shopping that you see.”

Shipley said security companies have reported thousands of fraudulent websites being registered over the last few months.

“McAfee, one of the most prominent antivirus firms, says that in the first month of the ramp-up of this online shopping season, they stopped 81,000 different scams in progress. And that’s just one vendor, one canary in the digital coal mine.”

All at the same time shoppers are feeling the pressure to have everything wrapped and ready and underneath the Christmas tree, and not break their budget to do it. 

Shipley said scammers “are their most effective” when consumers are stretched thin and desperate. 

He said they’ve become so sophisticated that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between them and legitimate retailers — even the biggest retailers have pretty convincing clones. 

“And so it becomes even harder to discern: Is this real? Is this fake?”

It could be as subtle as a slight difference in a familiar retailer’s name, “and when you’re in a rush, you don’t pick up on those small changes.”

WATCH | Spotting scams no longer as easy as finding spelling errors, Shipley says:

Online holiday scams are getting more sophisticated. Here’s how to protect yourself

The holidays are approaching, and it can be hard to know whether you’re buying gifts or becoming the victim of another online scam. David Shipley, CEO of cybersecurity firm Beauceron Security, has some advice for spotting any schemes.

Shipley said scammers often use phishing emails that “are predicated on tapping into our emotions. And so if they can make you excited, if they can make you fearful, they can get you to often do things that you wouldn’t normally do in a calm state.”

He said it’s pretty easy to fall into a fraudster’s trap. 

“You know, it’s a Friday morning, you’ve had a rough night. Maybe there was a power outage, maybe … kids are late for school,” Shipley said.

“All these other things are going on, and you’re trying to make the budget go, and all of a sudden an email arrives and says you’re going to get 75 per cent off that thing that you’ve been looking for really, really hard.”

You click on the link and it looks identical to the site you’re familiar with. So you give in and you give your credit card number. 

“That’s how easy all of this is,” said Shipley.

His advice is to slow down and consider what you’re looking at before clicking the buy button.

“Go into it calm, right? Have a plan in place. ‘I’m going here, here and here.’ Don’t rely on links and emails on social media ads.”

Go directly to online retailers and use things like Apple Pay or Google Pay, he said, which don’t give out your credit card number.

If it happens to you

If you do fall victim to a fraudster, Shipley suggests contacting your financial institution so they can freeze your cards and start an investigation.

You should also make sure you haven’t been infected with malware. 

And be kind to those who have fallen for the scams, said Shipley. After all, fraudsters have gotten very sophisticated since the early days of awkwardly worded, typo-ridden attempts.

“Do not get mad at your mom or your dad or at your kids or others for falling victim to what you see obviously as a scam. It was all about their humanity. It was not about their intelligence.”

Shipley said victims are often told to call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. 

“And while the staff there are amazing, they are so vastly inadequately resourced to the challenge.”

According to the centre, they’ve processed 40,623 reports in 2024, as of Oct. 31. It estimates that Canadians have lost more than $500 million to scams so far this year. 

Shipley said it’s generally believed that only a fraction of financial losses are reported to police. He estimates total losses are probably closer to $6 billion. 

According to the centre’s most recent annual report, New Brunswickers have lost a reported $3.2 million to fraud.