
Avoiding Holiday Scams: Expert Advice for a Safe Season
Holiday fraud is a globe-trotting grinch. Whether you’re gift-shopping from Osaka, Madrid, or Chicago, scammers deploy the same playbook—phishing links disguised as delivery updates, cloned charity pages, and too-good-to-be-true flash sales. In the United States alone, consumers lost more than US $530 million last holiday season [1], while one in four worldwide e-commerce phishing pages detected by Kaspersky originated during November-January [2]. Europol’s 2024 cyber-crime review found a matching spike across the EU [3]. The tactics travel as easily as any legitimate parcel, and so should your defences. Below we detail the most common seasonal scams—and how to stay several steps ahead.
































































































