Avoiding Holiday Scams: Expert Tips and Real-Life Stories

Avoiding Holiday Scams: Expert Tips and Real-Life Stories

Live episode · December 1, 2023 · 38 min

Agnes and Ryan walk through common holiday scams, including fake IRS calls demanding gift cards or threatening arrest, phishing emails, fake package-tracking texts, advance-fee and check scams, and overpayment scams on resale marketplaces. They also cover year-end bookkeeping and marketing prep for 2024, holiday tipping for service workers, and reasons to shop at local independent businesses.

Takeaways

  • Be suspicious of any call, text or email that demands gift cards, threatens arrest or asks you to click a link for a package you are not expecting.
  • Do not click unexpected links; delete suspicious emails and check the sender's real address first.
  • Before year end, make sure your bookkeeping transactions, estimated tax payments and receipts are recorded in the right places.

Chapters

  • 0:00 Welcome and the first day of December
  • 0:34 Red flags of IRS phone scams
  • 1:37 Scam season and fake IRS calls
  • 5:17 Phishing emails and texts
  • 6:53 A phone-account takeover attempt
  • 8:29 Fake package links and malware
  • 10:34 Advance-fee and fake check scams
  • 14:18 Resale marketplace overpayment scams
  • 18:29 Year-end bookkeeping tips
  • 22:01 Holiday tipping for service workers
  • 25:50 Brown Friday and seasonal pests
  • 28:53 Why shop local and closing

Conversation and opinion, not medical, legal, tax or financial advice.

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