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The holidays, they're a time of
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celebration, of gift giving, and of
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taking a moment to be extra kind to our
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fellow man. But for scammers, the
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holidays are a time when they can take
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advantage of your good nature.
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Jingle scams, jingle scams. I take cash
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from you. Put it in my pocket.
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Welcome to the North Pole. I'm uh Santa
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Claus and I got a whole bag of wonderful
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scams for you. Let's dig in here. See
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what we got. Oh, you're going to like
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this one a lot. It's the electronic
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holiday card scam. You might see that
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someone has sent you an electronic
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holiday card, but they may not be
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wishing you well. Opening it reveals a
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link which downloads the card to your
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computer and that is where the trouble
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begins. The download will infect your
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computer with malware. Clues to the scam
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include spelling and grammar mistakes.
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Also, there'll be some oddlooking URL
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Let's see what else I got in the old
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bag. Oh, see. Oh, this one here. Oh,
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yeah. You're going to like this one.
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It's the personalized Santa letter scam.
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This one plays on your desire to give
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your kids a very special Christmas. You
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get an email that offers, among other
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things, a handwritten letter from Santa,
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a special nice list certificate for your
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child, and Santa's special map to your
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house. The email says you better act
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fast to get in on the free shipping. And
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that's a clue that it's a scam. Other
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requests for credit card information,
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your full name, address, and phone
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number. Watch out for misspelling or odd
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And if it doesn't have https
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secure site in the URL, it's a scam.
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Scam. Santa's bag is not empty yet. We
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still got one more gift just for you. Oh
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yeah, you'll like this one. The fake
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Fake retail websites pop up around this
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time of year, like snowflakes falling in
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a blizzard. Scammers lure you in with
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tremendous savings or deals on
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electronics or other high ticket items,
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but they really just want your credit
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card info. Watch out for deals that are
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too good to be true. Avoid retail
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websites you've never heard of, and do
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an online search to see if anybody's
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reported trouble with that retail site.
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You can also use this link. It's called
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to check out if the website is
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So enjoy your holidays and don't let the
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Grinches spoil them with their scams.
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Working for you, I'm the consumer guy,