The winter holidays: a time for festivities and … fraud-tivities.

Gift Card Grab

Never, ever enter your credit card or other sensitive information to claim a gift card that comes via email.

Never Buy Over Public WiFi

Shopping over public WiFi means your credit card, bank account or login data could get picked up by a cyber thief. Use a VPN.

Coupon Cautious

If a coupon deal seems too good to be true, then assume it is. End of story. Next.

Password Housekeeping

• Change the passwords for all your sensitive accounts.
• No two passwords should be the same.
• Passwords should be a random salad of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols – at least 12 total.
• A password manager can ease the hassle.

Two Step Verification

• A login attempt will send a one-time numerical code to the user's phone.
• The user must type that code into the account login field to gain access.
• Prevents unauthorized logins unless the unauthorized user has your phone AND login credentials.

Think Before You Click

• Never click links that arrive in your in-box that supposedly linking to a reputable retailer's site announcing a fantastic sale.
• Kohl's, Macy's, Walmart and other giant retailers don't do this. And if they do, ignore them.
• So who does this? Scammers. They hope you'll click the link because it'll download a virus.
• The other tactic is that the link will take you to a mock spoofed site of the retailer, lure you into making a purchase, and then a thief will steal your credit card data.

Bank and Credit Card Security

• Find out what kind of security measures your bank has and then use them such as caps on charges or push notifications.
• Consider using a virtual credit card number that allows a one-time purchase. It temporarily replaces your actual credit card number and is worthless to a thief.

Job Scams

Forget the online ad that promises $50/hour or $100 for completing a survey. If you really need money then get a real job.

Monthly Self-Exam

For financial health: Every month review all your financial statements to see if there is any suspicious activity. Even an unknown charge for $1.89 is suspicious, because sometimes, crooks make tiny purchases to gage the account holder's suspicion index. Report these immediately.

Https vs. http

• The "s" at the end means the site is secure.
• Do all your shopping off of https sites.
• In line with this, update your browser as well.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock'em dead in this identity theft prevention video.