As the Christmas season approaches, the Better Business Bureau has issued a “Scam Alert” in an effort to keep holiday observers from being scammed out of their hard-earned cash by scammers offering a “Handwritten Letter from Santa to Your Child.”

Called “Santa’s special package,” the scam instead takes you to a site that “promises the special package contains an “official” nice-list certification and customized letter from Santa. There’s even a free shipping special that ends (not coincidentally) in just few hours. You decide to purchase and enter your credit card information,” says BBB.

But, instead, you don’t receive your “special letter,” have given away your credit card information which most likely be used to steal your identity and have lost the $19.95 purchase price.

The BBB says that another version of the Santa letter scam offers a free letter, but still gathers your full name, address and telephone number that they will sell to other spammers.

The BBB gives the following tips to help you identify an online scam:

• Ignore calls for immediate action. Many scams try to get you to act before you think by creating a sense of urgency (including the scam above). Don’t fall for it.

• Hover over links in emails to check their source. Scammers will make links look like something else. Place your mouse over hyper-linked text and the true destination will appear.

• Make sure the website has (real) contact information. If something goes wrong with your order, you need to be able to contact the business. When in doubt confirm that the address and phone number are real.

• Do your research. Check out the business on BBB.org and do a quick web search.

• Make sure you pay through a secure connection. When entering credit card information online, be sure that the URL starts with “HTTPS” and has a lock icon in the browser bar.

• Watch for poor grammar and spelling. Scam emails and websites often are riddled with typos. This is often a giveaway that you aren’t dealing with a real business.

Stay alert this Holiday Season and don’t let any unscrupulous scammers put the “Grinch” on you this season.

  christmas, credit cards, holidays, santa, scams