{"id":10975,"date":"2016-12-16T15:44:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T07:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/?p=10975"},"modified":"2016-12-16T15:44:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T07:44:27","slug":"dti-releases-list-of-common-christmas-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/2016\/12\/16\/dti-releases-list-of-common-christmas-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"DTI releases list of common Christmas scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas is a holiday that encourages sharing. When people start getting into the thick of it, it can become an unstoppable urge of good that other, more \u201copportunistic\u201d people tend to take advantage of. Thus, Christmas is not just a time for sharing; it\u2019s also the most perilous time for scams.<\/p>\n

Avoiding scams means knowing what they are and how to spot them. Luckily, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) posted the 12 most common Christmas scams on their Facebook page<\/a>, which they\u2019ve dubbed the \u201c12 SCAMonsters of Christmas\u201d:<\/p>\n

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  1. Fake charities.<\/strong> One way of knowing if a charity is legitimate is if you\u2019ve heard of them before. It\u2019s best to donate to charities directly instead of giving into the urge of handing over a few coins or bills towards these \u201crepresentatives\u201d. Check with the Securities and Exchange Commission to know whether the charity is legit.<\/li>\n
  2. Unregistered holiday raffle promos. <\/strong>The easiest way of spotting these bogus promos is if they ask you for money before being entered into the raffle, whereas DTI-registered raffle promos do not.<\/li>\n
  3. Unregistered Christmas sales.<\/strong> Sales in general aren\u2019t bad, but unregistered ones may have you buying fake items that will cost you more in the long run. A DTI permit should be present in their promotional material.<\/li>\n
  4. Online gadget giveaways.<\/strong> You\u2019ve probably seen this while browsing Facebook. All these promos ask of you is to \u201clike, comment, and share\u201d. Usually done by bogus social media accounts, the best way to combat these is to contact the company in question. Remember: think before you click.<\/li>\n
  5. Malicious online shopping websites. <\/strong>These come in the form of unsecured e-commerce websites, usually peppered with click advertisements. You\u2019ll either get faulty products or not get your order processed altogether.<\/li>\n
  6. Seasonal travel scams.<\/strong> With the influx of money during Christmas comes the urge to travel. Scammers often take advantage of this by giving out offers that only seem to be available during Christmas.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    1. Holdiay decors gone wrong. <\/strong>Faulty Christmas lights, lanterns, and the like will only add to your misery. Make sure to look for an ICC sticker, DTI\u2019s \u201cseal of approval\u201d.<\/li>\n
    2. Holiday SMiShing. <\/strong>You\u2019ve probably received one without realizing what it\u2019s called: a text that tells you you\u2019ve won a promo you\u2019ve never heard of with a DTI permit number taken out of the blue. We suggest blocking that number ASAP and reporting it to the National Telecommunications Commission.<\/li>\n
    3. Networking\/pyramid scams.<\/strong> More money usually means people asking you if you\u2019re \u201copen-minded\u201d. They\u2019ll offer you a business deal that will sound too good to be true\u2026 which it usually is. Avoid these people at all costs, since the DTI themselves can offer you better advice.<\/li>\n
    4. Cyber thief.<\/strong> These take the form of mobile applications that \u201cgive you free stuff\u201d in exchange for your banking information. Make sure you check the reviews and the app\u2019s permissions before you download. Also, never give out your banking details online.<\/li>\n
    5. Bogus gift certificates.<\/strong> Gift certificates make the perfect gift: they\u2019re good as cash without the hassle of actually giving away cash. However, there will be those who will offer you gift cards or gift certificates worth a lot of money for a significantly lower amount, usually from some random seller. Legitimate gift cards and gift certificates should only be bought directly from the establishment.<\/li>\n
    6. ATM Skimming.<\/strong> Perhaps the newest out of all the scams, these take the form of tampered ATM machines set up in a not-so-secure place. It\u2019s hard to tell from first glance, so make sure you check everything surrounding the card, cash slot, screen, and keypad before using any ATM.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Arm yourself with information and you\u2019ll surely avoid these scams. To know more about reporting these scams, visit the DTI Philippines Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      Source: DTI’s 12 SCAMonsters of Christmas<\/a>, Inquirer.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Avoiding scams means knowing what they are and how to spot them. Luckily, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) posted the 12 most common Christmas scams on their Facebook page, which they\u2019ve dubbed the \u201c12 SCAMonsters of Christmas\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1476,1475,434,1477],"class_list":["post-10975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-current-events","tag-12-scams-of-christmas","tag-christmas-scams","tag-dti","tag-scamonsters"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/12\/header-e1481874259913.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10978,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975\/revisions\/10978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}