Check Out The Rockford BBB’s 12 Scams Of Christmas

Maybe 2021 is winding down, but the efforts of scammers targeting the public have done nothing but intensify over the course of the entire year.

Now that we've hit Christmas/holiday shopping season at full speed, the Rockford Regional Office of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has released their list of the top scams of the holiday season.

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The BBB Says That Social Media Ads Are Just One Place Where People Are Getting Scammed

We may be on the lookout for strangers knocking on our front doors, but many of us completely leave our guard down when it comes to scrolling through social media. It doesn't matter which platform you use and prefer, scammers are lurking on all of them.

The BBB's 2020 Scam Tracker Risk Report found that online purchase scams were the most common cons reported to Scam Tracker and the category with the most victims. Their Scam Tracker reports thousands of people paying for items that they never receive, getting charged monthly for a free trial they never signed up for, or receiving an item that is counterfeit or much different from the one advertised.

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Everybody Loves A Gift Exchange---Unless It's A Total Scam (and illegal)

Social media gift exchanges have been a thing for a few years now, and all they seem to do is take people's money, leave them empty-handed, and potentially expose them to being charged in a pyramid scheme.

A newer version of this scam revolves around exchanging bottles of wine; another suggests purchasing $10 gifts online. Another twist asks you to submit your email into a list where participants get to pick a name and send money to strangers to "pay it forward."

You'll more than likely receive absolutely nothing, and it's illegal anyway.

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Let's Take A Look At The Ten Scams Remaining On The 12 Scams Of Christmas List

Because my space here is limited, I've listed the other 10 scams on the list, along with a link for you to grab more information to avoid being scammed: