Porch pirates, online scammers look to be the 'Grinch' this holiday season

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GRAFTON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- With more and more opportunities for online shopping, there's also a lot of opportunities for porch pirates and online scammers to spoil your holiday cheer.

"From October through the end of the year, this is our shopping season, and this is when we see the most scams," explained Lisa Schiller, director of investigations and media relations with the Better Business Bureau. "People really have to be one step ahead of the scammers and extra vigilant right now."

Schiller says a big thing the BBB is seeing right now is the use of social media and fake websites. She says there are some steps people can take to protect themselves when shopping online, including making sure the website is secure, checking reviews of the company to make sure it is legitimate and always being sure to use a credit card when making online purchases.

"Whether you know the company and it's legitimate and it's local or you're unfamiliar, always use a credit card," Schiller said. "We're seeing more and more people using debit cards and if it's a fake website, it's nearly impossible to get your money back."

Once the legitimate purchases are made online, they need somewhere safe and secure to be delivered. In the Grafton community, the chief of police is offering up the department.

"People are starting to order a lot more packages online and having them delivered. Those packages are sitting out vulnerable for anybody to come and pick up," said Chief Jeff Caponera. "We've got plenty of room here. We thought, let's just bring the packages here and give people the option to have their packages delivered to us. We'll hold onto them, and they can come and pick them up, so they know their packages aren't going to get stolen."

This is the third year in a row the department is offering the service free of charge to those living in the village and town of Grafton. They just ask for a little holiday spirit in return.

"If you participate in this program, just bring up an unwrapped toy or some food staples that we can donate to our family sharing as well as Kapco's Kids 2 Kids program," Chief Caponera said. "It's a worthy cause for everybody because everybody does deserve to have the best holiday possible."

Those in the Grafton community looking to utilize the department's Holiday Season Package Program can have the packages sent to the department's address:

1981 Washington Street
Grafton, Wisconsin 53024

The packages will be able to be picked up between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. every day. The department asks that your name is on the package as it appears on your ID so that way, they can make sure they are giving the packages to the correct person.

"This is something that we're doing just to give back and be able to help our community members have a good, happy holidays," Chief Caponera said. "Anything that we can do throughout the communities, and if this spreads to other communities, then that's great."

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