Year-End Privacy Checklist: Protect Your Data Before the Holiday Rush

Every year around this time the headlines about data breaches seem to fade just as shopping season begins. Retailers want checkout lines to move, card issuers tolerate a surge of unusual spending, and consumers are distracted by deadlines, travel and family. That is the environment in which small fraudulent charges slip through. This article started life as a short year-end reminder to watch your credit reports. Here it is rebuilt for 2026 as a practical checklist you can finish in an afternoon, before the rush begins.

1. Why the holidays are fraud season

Fraud is a numbers game, and the holiday season expands the numbers. People buy more items from more merchants, many of which they have never used. They also expect messages: shipping confirmations, coupons, gift cards, charity appeals and order problems. A scammer who sends a fake delivery notice during peak season will find that many recipients really are waiting on a package.

The scale of the problem is large. The Federal Trade Commission reported about $15.9 billion in consumer fraud losses for 2025, with imposter scams drawing more than a million reports. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025 with reported losses of $20.877 billion. Those figures cover the entire year, but the same tactics intensify when shoppers are busy.

Distraction is the main vulnerability. A line item for $9.99 on a December statement looks like another subscription. Criminals count on this, often testing a stolen card with a small charge before making bigger ones.

2. Step 1: lock the doors on new credit

Start with the protection that works whether or not you notice a problem.

Freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A freeze is free, takes about half an hour for all three and prevents most lenders from opening new accounts in your name. We explain the process in what a credit freeze is.
Pull your credit reports. AnnualCreditReport.com is the official source for free reports, and the bureaus currently offer weekly access. Look for accounts, addresses and inquiries you do not recognize.
Add an IRS Identity Protection PIN if you have not already, since tax refund fraud peaks soon after the new year.

A freeze does not stop misuse of cards you already have, so move on to the next step.

3. Step 2: tighten card and bank protections

Treat your payment accounts as the front line.

Turn on instant alerts for every transaction on every card, or at least for any purchase above a small amount.
Use credit rather than debit for online shopping. Credit cards typically provide stronger dispute protections and keep your checking balance out of reach.
Use virtual card numbers when your bank or wallet offers them, especially for merchants you do not know.
Check statements weekly through December and January. Look for small repeating charges, which often indicate a stolen card being tested.
Set spending limits where possible, and lock cards you are not using.
Protect your phone, because it now holds your wallet. Use a strong passcode and enable remote wipe.

Curious what’s already out there? Wiperts’ 100% Free Diagnosis shows which data brokers are listing your name, home address and phone number. Check your exposure free — it takes about a minute.

4. Step 3: secure your mail and packages

Physical theft is a holiday classic. Porch pirates take parcels, and mail thieves look for checks, gift cards and pre-approved credit offers.

Use tracking notifications and, where possible, delivery to a locker, a trusted neighbor or a pickup location.
Collect mail promptly, and consider a locking mailbox.
Hold your mail with the postal service if you are traveling, and do not announce trips on social media. Our article on why posting your vacation plans online is a bad idea explains the risk.
Opt out of prescreened credit offers at OptOutPrescreen.com, so fewer offers sit in your mailbox.
Shred documents that contain account numbers.

Watch for signs that someone is interfering with your mail: bills that stop arriving, unexpected address-change confirmations or statements for accounts you do not have. The signs are described in check your mail for fraudsters.

5. Step 4: learn the holiday scams

Familiarity is the best defense. The most common holiday scams share a few traits: urgency, a link and a request for payment or personal details.

Scam	What it looks like	What to do
Fake delivery notice	Text or email about a missed package with a link	Ignore the link; check the carrier’s site directly
Gift card request	A “boss” or relative asks for gift cards	Verify by phone; real organizations do not demand gift cards
Charity appeals	Urgent emotional pleas from unknown groups	Give only to organizations you research independently
Fake order confirmation	A receipt for an item you never bought	Do not call the number listed; check your accounts
Too-good-to-be-true deals	Popular items far below market price	Use known retailers and credit cards
Account lockout	A message saying your account is suspended	Go to the official site or app yourself

For a longer list, read new internet scams: what you should know and how to deal with online scams. To report unwanted texts, see how to report spam text messages.

6. Step 5: be careful with retailers and accounts

Every new store account is another database that can be breached. Where you can, check out as a guest and decline to save card details. Use an alias email for retail accounts so promotional mail and leaked addresses are easy to trace. Read the privacy information for unfamiliar sellers, and understand what they keep, as covered in protecting personal information in online shopping.

After the season, delete accounts you created for one purchase, and unsubscribe from marketing messages to reduce the number of senders who could be imitated.

7. Step 6: reduce what scammers can look up

Scammers research targets. The more they know about you, the more convincing their message. They can find your address, phone number and relatives on people-search sites in seconds, then reference those details in a text or phone call. Removing the listings makes you a harder target. Start with the data broker cleanup guide and recheck in a few months, since broker records refresh.

8. Reporting and recovery resources

If something does go wrong, know where to go before you need to. The Federal Trade Commission runs ReportFraud.ftc.gov for scams and IdentityTheft.gov for identity theft, where you can build a recovery plan and generate an official report. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center accepts reports of internet-enabled fraud, including larger losses. Save these three addresses in your phone now, because speed matters, and a calm checklist beats a panicked search.

9. A short note on gift cards and charities

Gift cards are the payment method scammers prefer, since they are fast and hard to trace. Treat any request to pay with gift cards from a caller, a text or an email as a red flag, no matter who the sender claims to be. Charity appeals deserve the same caution; research an organization on your own before donating, and give through its official website rather than a link in a message. Keep a note of the cards you buy as gifts, including receipts, so you can act quickly if one is lost or drained.

10. Three scenarios

Scenario 1: A small charge you do not recognize appears. Call your card issuer using the number on the card, dispute the charge and ask for a new card. Review other statements for similar charges, since thieves often test the same data across accounts.

Scenario 2: You click a link in a delivery text. Do not enter any information. Close the page, run a security scan on your phone if you use one, change passwords if you typed any and report the message. If you entered card details, call your issuer immediately. Our guide to steps to take after falling for a scam lists what to do.

Scenario 3: You are traveling over the holidays. Pause or redirect mail, avoid posting live updates, disable location tagging and use a credit card with alerts rather than a debit card. Do not use public Wi-Fi for banking.

11. What to expect: a realistic timeline

Task	Time needed	When protection starts
Credit freezes	About 30 minutes	Immediately
Card alerts and limits	15 minutes	Immediately
Mail and delivery setup	20 minutes	Within days
People-search opt-outs	A few hours	Days to 4 weeks
Weekly statement review	5 minutes a week	Ongoing

12. Common mistakes

Assuming a fraud alert from the bank covers every account.
Using a debit card online because it is convenient.
Clicking tracking links in texts instead of using the carrier’s app.
Ignoring small charges.
Forgetting to unfreeze credit temporarily before applying for a loan.

13. How Wiperts supports a safer holiday season

Wiperts handles the part of fraud prevention that is easy to skip: the public listings that give scammers their material. It scans more than 100 data brokers and people-search sites for your name, address and phone number, submits removal requests, asks Google and Bing to remove personal results, blurs your home on maps and keeps monitoring 24/7 so listings that come back are removed again. Individual, Couples and Family plans cover everyone who shares your address.

Start with a free look at your exposure.

100% Free Diagnosis: Check Your Exposure

Find out what data brokers have on you. Enter your details in the free scanner on the Wiperts homepage:

First Name
Last Name
Select State
Email Address
Website

Scan Databases Now — no payment is needed to see your exposure report.

14. Key takeaways

Fraud rises when you are busy, so set up protections before the rush.
Freeze credit, set card alerts and review statements weekly.
Secure mail and packages, and learn the common holiday scams.
Reduce what scammers can look up about you.

Pick the Wiperts plan that fits your household

Plan	Covers	One-time deep scrub	Then
Individual	1 person	$89	$14/month
Couples (most popular)	2 people	$149	$24/month
Family	Up to 4 people	$199	$39/month

Every plan includes removal of your name, date of birth, salary, home address and phone number from 100+ data brokers and people-search sites, Google and Bing search-result removal, home blurring on maps, and 24/7 monitoring that re-removes your data if it reappears. See plans and start your removal

15. Frequently Asked Questions

Why does fraud rise around the holidays?

Shoppers make many purchases quickly, retailers and card issuers focus on smooth checkout, and people expect parcels and promotional messages. Scammers imitate delivery notices, discount offers and charity appeals, and small unauthorized charges blend into busy statements.

How often should I check my credit during the holidays?

Weekly is reasonable. All three bureaus offer free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com, so you can look for new accounts or inquiries you do not recognize.

Is a credit freeze worth it before shopping season?

Yes. A freeze is free and stops most new-account fraud, and you can lift it temporarily if you apply for credit. Existing cards are not affected, so you still need to watch your statements.

What is the safest way to pay online?

Use a credit card or a virtual card number rather than a debit card, because credit cards generally limit your liability and keep your bank balance out of the dispute. Turn on instant transaction alerts.

How do I spot a fake delivery text?

Be suspicious of any message that asks you to click a link to reschedule delivery or pay a fee. Go to the carrier’s official website or app directly, and report spam texts to 7726 and at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

What should I do if I notice an unfamiliar charge?

Call the number on the back of your card, dispute the charge, request a replacement card and review your recent activity. If other signs of identity theft appear, report them at IdentityTheft.gov.

Sources

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