ROCK SPRINGS – With Thanksgiving and Black Friday behind us, the holiday shopping season is now in full swing. Unfortunately, it’s also the best time of the year for scammers who take advantage of the season with a wide range of Internet ripoffs.

Sheriff Rich Haskell and the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office have issued a Online Holiday Scam Advisory that provides information to help people avoid being victimized by Internet cybercriminals.

Social Media Scams

Scam artists learned very quickly that social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are rich hunting grounds, offering the potential for endless numbers of potential victims. They use social media just as they also use email and websites to scam consumers. Be wary of “wonderful deals” you encounter on social media just as you would with suspicious emails and websites.

In addition, the “New Friend Request” scam is also popular this time of year. Around the holidays, people like to reach out to (and hear from) relatives and friends they haven’t communicated with for a while, and are happy to receive “new friend requests.” Be cautious; while these messages are usually from a legitimate social media website, there may instead be a hacker on the other end and you wind up linking to viruses and/or giving up personal information. In any case, think twice about messages from friends or strangers that direct you to another website via a hyperlink.

Fake Charities

Emails soliciting funds for fake charities are common around the holidays. Thieves count on the generosity of good people to make this scam work – restrict your donations to organizations you know to be legitimate and always think twice before donating to any groups you’re not familiar with.

A little research can go a long way, too. “Watchdog” organizations Charity Navigator at https://www.charitynavigator.org/ and Charity Watch at https://www.charitywatch.org/, are both recommended by the Federal Trade Commission and provide a wealth of information on legitimate charities.

Email Banking Scams

More and more people are doing their shopping online, and cybercriminals know it. Internet shoppers are anxious that their online transactions be approved, so their guard is often down when they receive an email asking them to confirm account information, including user name and password. These emails often include a stern warning that if the information is not forthcoming, the account will become invalid. You should never respond to email requests for personal or financial data.

Phony Gift Cards

Be suspicious of emails you receive from third parties offering special deals on gift cards. Gift cards are a great idea for Christmas presents, but should you buy a bogus card, not only do you find yourself ripped off, but your credit card information winds up in the hands of crooks. Buying gift cards locally eliminates that risk.

Job-Related Email Scams

Many welcome the opportunity to make a little extra cash for the holidays and scammers take full advantage of it, sending out emails to lure in job seekers with promises of short-term, high-paying jobs and work-from-home schemes. What they are after is your personal and/or financial information and once they have it, you’ll find yourself victimized.

Fraudulent Classified Ads

Online classified ad sites for wonderful gift ideas and even part-time jobs to raise money for Christmas presents may seem like a good idea, but are often used by scammers. When you are asked for too much personal information or requested to wire funds via Western Union, you are almost certainly dealing with a scam.

Holiday Spam and/or Phishing

There is always an increase in holiday-themed spam and phishing emails at this time of year offering wonderful deals on everything from Rolex watches to top-shelf cell phones to pharmaceuticals. Exercise extreme care with such communications – crooks who are “phishing” are after information such as passwords and credit card numbers. Remember, anyone legitimately selling valuable merchandise doesn’t need to send out hundreds of thousands of emails to do business.

Holiday Contest or Survey Scams

Scammers take full advantage of the latest crazes for popular “must have” items like the iPad Air, creating bogus contests and surveys offering free devices and other too-good-to-be-true deals, while they are phishing away the whole time, trolling for your credit card numbers and passwords.

“Con artists, scammers, hackers, and other criminals depend on your holiday spirit,” Haskell warned. “They count on people’s generosity and good will, particularly at this time of year, to find and create victims. Don’t be a victim. Be cautious, be careful, and remember always what was true long before home computers and the Internet: If something sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.”

Authorities recommend the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s website at www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud as an excellent source of information to help people protect themselves against fraud and scams of all kinds.