PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Lovers, beware. Experts are warning of an uptick in Valentine’s Day scams, and many scams target you online when you’re shopping for your sweetie pie.
Valentine’s Day is in the big leagues when it comes to holiday consumer spending. The National Retail Federation says consumer spending will hit around $24 billion.
"You’ll see hundreds of thousands of attackers successfully capturing credit card information from folks, and we’re talking millions of dollars," warned Ernest Dunn with GuidePoint Security.
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He said many people are preyed upon while trying to buy something for their beloved.
"Common targets for attackers are discounted coupon sites, discount flower and candy sites," said Dunn.
"Scammers are trying to entice people, either through phishing emails or coupon code scams, ultimately to take advantage of those buyers and cash in on their credit card information."
He added that besides paying close attention to who you are dealing with, use some caution with your payment methods.
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"Steer clear of using debit cards. It’s a little bit harder to get you’re money back if you have a security incident on one of those cards,” Dunn added.
“Enable transaction logs on your credit card, so with any transaction that happens, you're getting an email or a text message on it. You're catching things very early in the cycle to be able to address them
The Better Business Bureau is also warning people about scammers selling fake jewelry on imposter websites, and romance scams on dating apps.
Click the links for more from the Better Business Bureau:
- Top Valentine's Day scams
- Scamtracker
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