Shopping online may be more convenient\u00a0as we get closer to the holidays, and because we’re stressing to find something fast, we might not be thinking twice before we click “Check out.”<\/p>\n
FBI El Paso says most people who fall for scams are those shopping from ads they see online, especially on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From Jan. 1 to Nov. 18 this year, FBI El Paso says they’ve received about\u00a0300 complaints with a loss ranging from $47\u00a0to almost $300,000.<\/p>\n
A scam can mean if you never receive an order after paying for it or if you receive an item that doesn’t look like how it was advertised.<\/p>\n
Always watch out buying from websites like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist that can sell counterfeit items of high-end brands, or anyone who’s asking for a deposit first.<\/p>\n
“They’re all always trying to take your money,” says FBI El Paso spokesperson Kimberly Carillo. “And so whether it’s, social media, that tends to be the platform individuals tend to gravitate more most towards, it’s definitely important to be mindful of what individuals are selling. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.”<\/p>\n
The best thing you can do is do your homework and reading reviews before purchasing an item or even booking a stay or flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether on Airbnb or other sites, make sure to read\u00a0the terms and\u00a0agreement before signing and putting down a deposit.<\/p>\n
Protect yourself by knowing how you can get a refund or what the company will cover in case you don’t get access.<\/p>\n
Carillo says sometimes\u00a0hosts double book a stay.<\/p>\n
To protect yourself, it’s best to use a credit card for these purchases.<\/p>\n
“I would be very careful of what website you choose, obviously there’s several websites to choose from, especially when you’re traveling,” says Carillo. “But just be mindful of those deals, do your homework, read the reviews. Those are going to be your best friend, and just be careful.”<\/p>\n
If you’re experiencing loss from a scam, you can report it to ic3.gov.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Make sure to save the emails and phone numbers from the sites that scammed you.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shopping online may be more convenient\u00a0as we get closer to the holidays, and because we’re stressing to find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-80253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}