As the holiday season gets into full swing be aware that scammers also step up their efforts to steal as much as they can. 

Det. Sgt. Robert Whiteford works in the Property Crimes Section of our Detectives Division. PCU has seen an increase is certain types of fraudulent and scam activities. 

Some trends to be aware of and take preventative measures against are:

- Calls or requests for payments using gits cards. Scammers will frequently target people for a number of scams (social security issues, phishing/malware, computer issues, etc.) The scammers ask the target to purchase a quantity of gift cards and then ask for the card codes so that the amounts purchased can be deducted by the scammers. Legitimate services will accept standard forms of payment and will generally have a secure payment method for online transactions. The request for gift cards as a form of payment should be a red flag for fraudulent activity. 

- Deposit scams where a large sum of money or prize is promised in exchange for a deposit of money. No legitimate lottery, sweepstakes or prize oriented promotion requires a participant or winner to secure a prize by having to deposit their own funds to claim the prize. Do not accept or deposit any suspicious or unsolicited checks that come with a "promise" for additional funds. 

- Residential rental scams. There is a detailed explanation of this scam on the top slideshow on this CrimeWatch page. You can click on the link for additional details: https://crimewatch.net/us/pa/lancaster/lancaster-city-bp/19659/post/rental-property-scam-trending-august-2020

- Requests from email/Facebook/ Instagram contacts requesting money via Cashapp, money order, gift card or digital currency (like Bitcoin). Frequently people find that their friend/contact's account had been hacked and the scammers used the account contact list to spam the fraudulent request for money. If someone is legitimately in need of money for an emergency it should be possible to verify that information outside of social media platforms or emails. 

Sgt. Whiteford cautioned that many current scam trends use or request payment via Cashapp, money orders, gift cards or Bitcoin. He went on to add "

People should be wary of businesses or persons who request funds using these methods. This does not mean that these methods cannot be used for legitimate purposes but when money is sent using these situations it is difficult, sometimes impossible, for Law Enforcement to track where the money was sent. Typically if a purchase or opportunity seems too good to be true it is. If something does not seem right with circumstances, the best practice would be to wait. You can research what information you do have and try to confirm if the situation is legitimate or not."

We at the Lancaster Bureau of Police hope that everyone has a happy holiday season and is able to shop safely. If you feel that you have been the victim of a scam of fraud scheme you can contact Police in Lancaster County at 717-664-1180 to file a report.