Allegheny County Fraud Squad warning against scams this holiday season

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — The holiday shopping season means it’s also scam season, especially online.

The Allegheny County Fraud Squad is warning of seven specific tricks shoppers may see.

One is “cloned websites.” Those are sites that look a whole lot like trusted ones but exist to steal personal information.

Others include “bogus shipping notices,” “shame order confirmations” and “email phishing scams.” Those will usually send a link to the potential victim. The rule-of-thumb here is to never click on them.

The final three are usually found on social media: “fake charities,” “sob stories,” and “phony classified ads.”

Channel 11 spoke with shoppers about the warnings.

“It’s not always true, which is why I don’t do a lot of online stuff or banking or the GoFundMe. I’ll just write you a check,” Loretta Dulski said.

“Usually, I can spot them, I think. Like, when you see a Blackstone, I think I saw it for $140. I thought, nah, too good to be true,” Justine Cashdollar said.

If you suspect you’re a victim of a scam, call your local police department.

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