'Tis the season to take heed

Buyers and businesses beware - the season of giving can bring its perils.

With less than a week until Christmas, the shopping frenzy is quickening. While this can mean good deals and good business, those on both sides of the counter are warned to watch out for the fraud that can come with the holidays.

"There's a dramatic increase over the holidays," said Michael Webb, dispute resolution director with the Better Business Bureau in Anchorage. He said consumers have to watch out for everything from credit card scams to fraudulent charities.

As shoppers become increasingly frantic, they are more likely to lose receipts or not take note of exchange or refund policies. Outside of these innocent mistakes, people also have to watch out for more devious business practices.

Webb said the new Internet marketplace is offering yet another avenue for fraud.

He said it isn't unheard of for people to order products over the Internet, never receive them and never be able to locate the company again.

One of this year's primary scams has to do with the much-sought-after Sony Playstation II games. After a number of Internet sites boasted having a surplus of these games at cheap prices, Sony came out with a press release stating this was not possible and that people should be wary of such offers.

"We advise consumers to use a credit card," Webb said. Most credit card companies offer a method of dispute in case a consumer doesn't receive the product or if the product is not what it was advertised as.

Many people are also taking their wallets out this time of year in order to help those who are less fortunate.

"It is a giving season," Webb said. The holiday spirit can unfortunately create opportunities for dishonest people. Webb said people should be sure of any charities to which they are giving. If it is a group they are unfamiliar with, Webb advises asking for written information and then calling either the BBB or the Alaska Attorney General's office, which has a list of registered charities in the state.

"Christmas or not, it doesn't take an hour or more to check it out," Webb said.

Consumers and donors aren't the only victims, however. James Blanco, author of "Business Fraud: Know it & Prevent it," says Christmas brings out dishonest customers as well.

"There's more fraudulent activity in the holiday season than at any other time of the year," Blanco said in a press release. "Everybody is out shopping; well, the fraud artists are out shopping, too. Because so much money is changing hands so rapidly, in the form of checks, credit cards and other negotiable instruments, it's hard for store clerks and others to pay careful attention."

According to Blanco, who is a former examiner for the U.S. Treasury Department, more than 1.4 million checks are forged every day in the United States, causing businesses to lose more than $27 million daily. A disproportionate number of those bad checks and cash losses occur in November and December.

The shopping jam can make clerks and tellers skip simple precautions that can catch worthless checks and bogus credit cards. Return counters, too, can become madhouses, Blanco says, allowing scam artists to use counterfeited receipts to walk away with cash as they "return" items they have shoplifted.

Blanco has a list of fraud prevention tips for businesses:

Avoid checks with low check numbers and non-personalized checks.

Make sure that only one ink was used to fill out the check.

Make sure that cashier's checks, money orders or traveler's checks aren't just color copies.

Hold paper currency up to a light and check for the watermark in new bills.

Ensure the numeric values on bills match on the front and back.

Ignore the myth that ink will smear only on bogus bills, as it may smear on authentic currency as well.

With credit cards, make sure the cards are signed on the back.

Ensure that the name, gender and age of the customer matches the information on the credit card and identification.

Train your return counter personnel in identifying features of your register receipts. These are routinely counterfeited and, if not validated, can mean being tricked into giving away cash or products to rip-off artists.

Insure that cash drawers are not left propped open, to help prevent cash-pilfering scams.

Screen your trash. Make sure you shred documents containing important information, either yours or that of your customers.

Never give out your credit card number or Social Security number to anyone who initiates a phone call to you.

More information on avoiding fraud, for both customers and business owners, is available at the Better Business Bureau Web site at www.bbb.org and in Blanco's book, "Business Fraud: Know it & Prevent it."