Rockford’s Better Business Bureau warns of holiday scams
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The biggest shopping week of the year is upon us with Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon.
“$9 billion was the numbers for last year, 2022, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, those two days,” said Dennis Horton, director of Rockford’s Better Business Bureau. “We’re expecting it to eclipse that this year.”
When scammers realize how much money is in play, they’re even more incentivized to engage in shady practices, says Horton.
“The list of scams that will take place seems to grow every year,” Horton said. “I’ve been at it for 23 years thinking at some point this may die down, but that’s not the case at all.
Horton says that scams have patterns, but are altered slightly to keep unwary consumers off guard.
Keeping the same shopping habits that are practiced in-store when shopping online is one way to better protect yourself from scams, says Horton.
“Make sure that you are reading the refund and exchange policies, read the fine print, very often if you are buying electronics, if the package is opened, you can’t return it.”
Planning ahead is also a way to keep yourself better aware to spot deceptive practices, he recommends.
Gift card scams are a popular deceptive practice. Data from the BBB shows scammers use gift cards to make it harder to trace.
“Check the back of the [gift] cards,” says Horton, as scammers could have scratched the card’s PIN and taken its information.
