Holiday shopping sees increase in thefts
As more people are out holiday shopping, so are thieves. The busy holiday season, packed stores and shoppers in a hurry mean that thieves can steal wallets, purses and packages. With a little bit of extra vigilance, shoppers can protect themselves
The first thing that shoppers should do is empty out wallets of all most important cards. Consider carrying only one piece of picture ID and one credit or debit card. Purses should be cleaned out as well so that shoppers are carrying a minimum of belongings and personal information on them. By only carrying a single card, consumers lessen the impact if their wallet is stolen by not providing many different cards and accounts.
While shopping do not hand over a debit or credit card. Ask to swipe the card yourself and make sure to shield the keypad when entering a PIN. Double check all receipts to ensure that you were not over charged or charged multiple times for a single purchase.
Shoppers should avoid carrying many shopping bags at a time. When customers are loaded down they are more likely to set bags down leaving themselves vulnerable to theft. Once shoppers have a few bags they should take a trip out to their car and put bags in a trunk or covered so that they are not visible from the outside.
These few steps will help to make shoppers less vulnerable to some of the most common thefts during the holiday season.
