{"id":9813,"date":"2021-12-14T15:01:19","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T20:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.greatflorida.com\/?p=9813"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:11:19","slug":"top-holiday-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/2021\/top-holiday-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Holiday Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Computers and smartphones provide heaps of useful information. However, they can also leave you vulnerable to theft and crooks wanting to gain access to your personal and financial information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCriminals don\u2019t just want to steal your money, they want to take your personal info to get loans, make purchases, rent apartments, get medical services and more,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dustyns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" =_blank>Dustyn Shroff<\/a>, Vice President of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a>, Florida\u2019s leading independent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/florida-homeowners-insurance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">homeowners insurance<\/a> agency.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/high-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/high-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9819 lazyload\" width=\"232\" height=\"124\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 232px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 232\/124;\" \/><\/a><figcaption>https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/scams-and-safety\/common-scams-and-crimes\/holiday-scams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/scams-and-safety\/common-scams-and-crimes\/holiday-scams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Federal Bureau of Investigation<\/a> (FBI) warns the most common holiday scams are non-delivery and non-payment crimes. \u201cIn a non-delivery scam, a buyer pays for goods and services they find online but those items are never received. Conversely, a non-payment scam involves good or services being shipped, but the seller is never paid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trust-bbb.org\/naughty-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Better Business Bureau<\/a> (BBB) has released a \u201cNaughty List\u201d with the top 12 scams of Christmas. These are the scams that are most likely to catch consumers and donors off guard this holiday season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of these new scams are accessed through email and social media,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dustyns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" =_blank>Dustyn Shroff<\/a>, Vice President of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a>, Florida\u2019s top independent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/florida-homeowners-insurance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">homeowners insurance<\/a> agency.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Misleading Social Media Ads<\/strong>-Check out any suspicious business profile on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbb.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BBB.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Social Media Gift Exchange<\/strong>-An illegal pyramid scheme to get your personal information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Holiday Apps<\/strong>-Review privacy policies and hidden fees, also some contain malware<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alerts About Compromised Accounts<\/strong>-Be extra careful about unsolicited calls, emails and texts regarding compromised accounts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Free Gift Cards<\/strong>-Watch for phishing emails looking for personal information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Temporary Holiday Jobs<\/strong>-Keep an eye out for opportunities too good to be true.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Look-Alike Websites<\/strong>-Be wary of emails with links enclosed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fake Charities<\/strong>-Verify a charity you are unfamiliar with through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charitynavigator.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Charity Navigator<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fake Shipping Notifications<\/strong>-Phishing emails to obtain your personal information<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pop Up Virtual Holiday Events<\/strong>-Charging admission for a traditionally free event.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top Holiday Wishlist Items<\/strong>-Be careful of cheap counterfeits and knockoffs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Puppy Scams<\/strong>-Request to see the pet in person before making a purchase.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a> wishes Happy Holidays to all our valued agents as well as our appreciated customers across the state.<\/p>\n<p>Keep your valuables and family protected with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/florida-homeowners-insurance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">homeowners insurance<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a>. We have affordable, quality policies to fit your needs. Contact us today.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-521 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1-300x37.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1-150x19.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1-696x86.jpg 696w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 728px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 728\/90;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1-300x37.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1-150x19.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/GoggleImage_Home_H_1-696x86.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/florida-homeowners-insurance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Computers and smartphones provide heaps of useful information. However, they can also leave you vulnerable to theft and crooks wanting to gain access to your personal and financial information. \u201cCriminals don\u2019t just want to steal your money, they want to take your personal info to get loans, make purchases, rent apartments, get medical services and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1219,"featured_media":9821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,91,1,89,9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-homeowners-insurance","8":"category-auto-insurance","9":"category-featured","10":"category-floridainsurance","11":"category-travel-insurance","12":"category-umbrella-insurance"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9813"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13623,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9813\/revisions\/13623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}