Watch Out for Fake Websites this Holiday Season

SF SAFE is all for supporting the San Francisco economy this holiday season, but if you decide to do some of your shopping online, watch out for the fake website scam.

This scam happens when you go online to visit your intended store, but—whoops—misspell its name in your browser. That’s where the trouble begins…

While on what you think is the real site, you make a purchase. The scammer from the spoofed website then steals your credit card info to use or sell, while also likely stealing other things like your name and address, according to Norton.

The best way to avoid falling prey to a cloned site? Confirm you’re on the real site before you start shopping. However, if you’ve fallen victim to a cloned site, change your username/password for the real shopping site immediately since it’s been compromised. Also, be sure to delete any saved credit card info on the real site to be careful. And finally, if you used a credit card to make a purchase on the sham site, report the fraud to your card issuer immediately. They will block the scammer from using your old card number and will issue you a new card, said Norton.

From all of us at SF SAFE, here’s wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!