SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Americans lose billions of dollars every year to scammers, and much of that money is stolen over the holidays. We take a look at ways to protect yourself, and your hard-earned cash, from all the grinches now looking to steal it.

It may come as no surprise, the holidays are a prime time for scammers due to all the online shopping, travel, and charitable giving. Mix in the hustle and bustle of holiday get togethers– and instead of the season of giving, we have the prefect recipe for a season of stealing.

“It’s really important that folks understand the fraud and scams that are out there and try to be one step ahead of them because they’re 2 steps ahead of us,” Layla D’Emilia is the Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs for Massachusetts.

She said one of the biggest scams this time of year is what’s called a smishing text. Messages that often look like they’re from a legitimate sender, like a well-known company, your bank, or even a government agency. But of course, it’s a scammer, “the common tactics right now is getting a smishing text, that will have a sense of urgency to it that you need to click on a link, you have a package that’s waiting for delivery and to click on this link to see the package and where it is,” said D’Emilia.

Another criminal favorite, emails pretending to be fake order confirmations, to good to be true deals, charity fraud, or a warning about your account, “You’ll get some emails as well with some urgency your account has been compromised. One of things we try and tell folks is to really look at – first stop, don’t hit the link, and really think did you order a package? And you should go onto that online sight to actually track you package rather than clicking on a link. These companies will not send you links like that that have a sense of urgency for you to look at.”

It’s that sense of urgency that’s all to common with scammers, and one D’Emilia said is a red flag that something’s not right.

She cautioned people to slow down and carefully look at where the email came from, if your still unsure, pick up your phone and call the company who supposedly sent it, “is there a typo? A lot of times you’ll see it look a little weird and if it seems weird it usually is weird. And most companies, banks, or accounts you may have, will never ask you for social security number, your bank account number, a password, so those are the types of things we tell folks to really think about before they actually click anything.”

Finally, when shopping online, be aware of the websites you’re using. Even if you think you’re shopping with Amazon, or Temu, or Target, make sure those are the legitimate places you’re ordering from, “There are a lot of times you’ll click in and it’s a fake website over the top of what you think you’re going to. Think about what you’re using a paying with. I would recommend paying with a credit card. It’s a faster way to stop a payment that’s fraudulent than if it was a debit attached to your checking account,” D’Emilia said.

For more information and consumer resources, you can head to this website.

Or, you could call the Massachusetts Consumer Hotline at 617-973-8787.

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