Ho, Ho, Ho – Santa Fraud
I love the holiday! I have ever since I was a little girl. My family and I would begin to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, that’s the day my dad would go into the garage and pull out all the Christmas lights we owned… quite begrudgingly I might add, as my mother, who LOVES Christmas lights, seemed to add more to the collection each year.
In the beginning, my dad would lay out all the ‘old’ C-7’s on the grass and plug them in checking each light if a cord was out. Soon he transformed these cords into cords that allowed the other lights to still illuminate even if there was a light out in the row.
If only we took this much time and care to protect our identities all year long and check our credit reports every now and then for ‘burnt out bulbs’ or perhaps upgrade our security practices to help protect our identities better.
My family has kept every ornament that my brother or I have ever made, yep, all the way from the paper and glitter Christmas trees to the bric-a-brac covered pinecones, they’re all there. Baby’s first Christmas ornaments and miniature soccer player angels as well as ornaments from my grandparent’s trees that have been lovingly and carefully wrapped and nestled into boxes from the 1940’s are all present on our tree. Imagine if we kept all of our financial and personal information as diligently.
Financial records are important to keep track of. Purchases, receipts, tax returns, pay stubs, bills, credit cards, all personal information that should be kept in case of discrepancies and for our own personal records in case we become a victim of identity theft. If we kept this information, we could file police reports easier in case of a theft. Yet, we don’t seem to care for these documents like our treasured Christmas ornaments.
In my family on Christmas Eve, a Yule Log would be burning in our fireplace as my brother and I opened presents from our parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends. Then we would get into our ‘footie’ pajamas, make S’mores in the fireplace, set out a special Christmas Mug and Plate especially for Santa of milk and cookies, as well as a carrot for Rudolph, then climb into bed and try to stay awake as long as our eyes would allow in hope to hear or see Santa Claus.
Think of this, Santa Claus, a man we’ve never met, who knows our inner most hearts and our year-long personal behavior characteristics. Naughty? Nice? Present? Coal? A man who knows where we live. A man we tell our most desired wishes to. A man who uses alias’s to get by, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Baba Chaghaloo. A man whom we welcome with open arms into our homes one night a year to leave presents, and he doesn’t even use the front door, he shimmies down the chimney. Any ‘regular’ person who did this would be considered an intruder. Now heed this thought, how many people know about our personal information or our own personal behavior characteristics? How many other ‘Santa’s’ are out there searching to invade our personal identities? The point is, we never know who might be looking into our lives getting ready to leave lumps of coal in our proverbial stocking.
With this in mind, be on alert for Santa Fraud this holiday season. In fact, ask the real Santa Claus for a shredder for Christmas, or maybe a subscription to LifeLock. Spread the holiday cheer and give a practical gift everyone will love, LifeLock for the whole family! Don’t get caught in a battle between Santa Claus and Santa Fraud, let LifeLock sort it out!
Merry Christmas!
~Christina Hall
