Top 5 Holiday Scams You Need To Know About

The holiday season is a time for celebration, but it’s also prime time for cybercriminals. As businesses gear up for year-end sales and festive events, scammers are working just as hard to exploit the rush. From fake invoices to gift card schemes, these attacks aren’t just annoying, they can drain thousands of dollars and damage your reputation.

Before the holidays hit full swing, make sure your team knows the top scams to watch for and how to stop them.

Top 5 Holiday Scams

1. “Your Boss Needs Gift Cards” (The $3,000 Text Trap)

• The scam: Impostors pose as owners or managers and pressure staff into buying gift cards for “clients” or “employee appreciation.” From January to May 2025, Gift card schemes were the most common cash-out method in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks.
• Prevention: Create a company policy that gift cards cannot be purchased without two approvals. Train employees that executives will never request them via text.

2. Invoice & Payment Switch-Ups (The Big Money Play)

• The scam: Fraudsters send “updated banking details” or hijack vendor e-mail threads right when year-end bills are due. In June 2024, the Town of Arlington, MA, lost nearly half a million dollars this way.
• Prevention: Confirm any banking changes with a known phone number, never the one in the e-mail. Adopt a “phone call rule” for all financial changes over $5,000.
  
  

3. Fake Shipping & Delivery Notices

• The scam: Phishing e-mails or texts pose as UPS/FedEx/USPS with links to “reschedule delivery.”
• Prevention: Train staff to never click the links in these emails and texts and to type the carrier’s official site directly into the browser.
  
  

4. Malicious “Holiday Party” Attachments

• The scam: E-mails with attachments like “Holiday_Schedule.pdf” or “Party_List.xls” that install malware when opened.
• Prevention: Block macros, scan attachments and make verifying unexpected files part of your culture.
  
  

5. Bogus Holiday Fundraisers

• The scam: Phishing sites mimic charities or fake “company match” campaigns to steal money or data.
• Prevention: Share an approved charity list and require all donations to flow through official portals.
  
  

Why These Attacks Work And How To Stop Them

The same tools that make business efficient (e-mail, online banking, digital payments, etc) are exactly what scammers exploit. These just aren’t “Nigerian prince” e-mails. They’re sophisticated attacks blending social engineering with research on your company.

Organizations that combine phishing simulations with security awareness training can reduce phishing susceptibility by 50–60% within the first few months, and up to 86% after a year of ongoing programs, yet most small businesses never train employees. Additionally, Multifactor authentication blocks 99% of unauthorized logins, but many firms still rely on passwords alone.

Your Holiday Defense Checklist

Here’s what to do before the holidays hit full swing:

• The Two-Person Rule: Any transaction above your set threshold requires verbal confirmation through a separate channel by two people.
  
  
• Gift Card Policy: No gift card requests will be sent via e-mail or text.
  
  
• Vendor Verification: Confirm all banking or payment changes by phone using the numbers already on file or navigating directly to a vendor’s official site.
  
  
• Multifactor Authentication: Enable MFA on all e-mail, banking and cloud accounts.
  
  
• Holiday Awareness: Brief your team on the five scams above.

The Real Cost

Orion’s $60 million loss grabbed headlines, but the ripple effects of a cyberattack often hit small businesses even harder. When systems go down, operations can grind to a halt during peak season, productivity plummets as staff scramble to contain the damage, and customer trust erodes if sensitive data is exposed.

Beyond the immediate chaos, the financial aftershocks linger. Insurance premiums often spike after an incident, and the average loss from a single Business Email Compromise is $129,000; a figure that can sink a small business at the worst possible time.

Keep Your Holidays Merry, Not Messy

The holidays should be about growth and celebration, not cleaning up wire fraud. A staff huddle, a handful of smart policies and a few layered protections go a long way toward keeping criminals out of your books.

Remember: The employee at Orion could have stopped a $60 million loss with a single verification phone call. With the right awareness and simple checks, your business can avoid being the next cautionary tale.

Want to make sure your team is locked down before the New Year? 

The best gift you can give your business this holiday season is peace of mind. 
Book a discovery call with us today.