Holiday Shopping Means Online Holiday Scamming Not Far Behind
By Brad Segall
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- At least one consumer protection agency in the Philadelphia suburbs has been receiving calls and complaints from some area residents about an online scam designed to steal your personal information.
After the Target credit card breach that reportedly affected more than 40 million customers (see related story), consumers are no doubt jittery about giving out credit card information.
Bucks County director of consumer protection Mike Bannon says his department is getting calls about an old scam that's been reinvented. He says it involves a major retailer:
"Folks will receive an e-mail saying that there's been a problem with their transaction at Walmart, and it has a link that you follow to a lookalike Walmart site that is really not Walmart."
He says there are a lot of transactions taking place at this time of year, making it a prime time for scammers to try to steal information.
His best advice: delete the e-mails and don't follow any links that look suspicious, then call the retailer to find out if they are trying to contact you.
