’is the season for holiday cheer, time with family and friends, gift-giving and feasts — and scams and fraud. With the shopping in full swing, culminating in Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday, consumers are out in force, swiping credit cards, withdrawing funds from ATMs and making multiple purchases online. All of which inevitably translates to increased activity from ne’er-do-wells.
Being a far-flung state with a relatively small urban population, Hawaii is insulated from certain malicious activity, but a heavy reliance on online retail portals makes the islands more susceptible to remote attacks such as identity theft, credit card fraud and imposter scams. These crimes, while not always easily identified, can be prevented with a bit of awareness.
A Federal Trade Commission report, prepared with in partnership with the FBI, IRS, U.S. Postal Service, Better Business Bureau and others, recorded nearly 5.4 million reports of fraud, identity theft and other financial crimes over 2023, an increase from 5.3 million reports a year earlier. Forty-eight percent of reports were classified as fraud, followed by identify theft at 19%. Nationwide, FTC reported $10 billion in fraud-related losses, up $1.2 billion from 2022, with a median loss of $500. Hawaii’s 11,947 reports — the highest per-capita concentration was on the Big Island — amounted to $43.8 million in total fraud losses with a median loss of $600. Of those, imposter scams accounted for 22% and identity theft 13%, the latter led by credit card crimes.
Separately, the FBI said Hawaii residents over the age of 60 lost nearly $28 million last year to fraud schemes. Just this month, news broke of two Aiea women who face federal charges for allegedly stealing a check and credit card number from a man in his 90s to spend more than $20,000 on unauthorized purchases.
And it’s not just kupuna who have to keep an eye out. Some 44% of consumers age 20-29 who reported fraud lost money in the encounter, compared to 25% of adults age 70-79, according to the FTC. The younger demographic’s median loss was $480, while kupuna hovered at $1,450.
Fraud is not a burgeoning problem, it is an entrenched criminal enterprise that evolved from spurious lottery mailers to scam phone calls to sophisticated spear phishing attacks, or personalized scams designed to tease out sensitive information or access to funds. Today’s operators are savvy, some armed with traces of a target’s digital footprint, including personal and financial information gleaned from data breaches, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate legitimate correspondence from fraudulent activity. But there are a few simple steps consumers can take to avoid falling victim to fraudsters:
>> Never relinquish personal data to untrusted sources. This can include phone calls from numbers that appear legitimate on caller ID — number spoofing is not uncommon.
>> Don’t click email links from unknown senders, even if correspondence appears official and contains your name, address or Social Security number. Like phone numbers, email addresses can be manipulated. It’s best to contact a company directly through an official website.
>> Be skeptical and conduct research before handing over sensitive credentials or account information.
>> Don’t be pressured by seemingly urgent requests. If it’s real and important, the initiating party will be willing to wait while you conduct due diligence.
>> Remain vigilant. Make yourself aware of fraud trends — credit card and bank card skimmers, touchless payment scams, phishing attacks, robocalls, fake prizes, unprompted password resets and many more. The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection is a good resource for regular fraud alerts, and can be found online at consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts Opens in a new tab.
>> Request free copies of your credit report and pay close attention to bank and credit account statements.
With a little caution, consumers can end the year on a high note, keep more money in the bank and lower the FTC’s fraud statistics for 2024. Here’s to a holly jolly holiday shopping season for all. Except fraudsters.
