Holiday Season Scams Are on the Rise — What SMBs Should Watch For and How to Stay Protected

The holiday shopping season isn’t just busy for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), it’s also peak season for cyber-criminals and scammers. While most businesses focus on sales, marketing, and meeting end-of-year goals, threat actors are busy exploiting the chaos.

From fake ads to phishing emails and fraudulent vendor invoices, scams surge during the holidays, and SMBs are prime targets. Why? Because scammers know that smaller organizations often lack the resources, staff, or time to scrutinize every transaction and security alert.

Here’s what your business should look out for this season, and the steps you can take to stay ahead of holiday scams.

1. Fake Ads and Social Media Scams

Fraudulent ads are flooding social media platforms, often impersonating real brands or using stolen images and fake promotions. These ads can trick your customers into buying from fake sites, or worse, spread malware. Even if you’re not running paid campaigns, your brand could be hijacked and associated with scams that erode customer trust.

What to do:

• Monitor your brand mentions and ad placements across platforms.

• Use official business accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA).

• Report fake profiles or ads using your brand immediately.

• Educate your followers on how to spot and report imposters.

2. Phishing and Invoice Fraud

During the rush of year-end orders and payments, scammers take advantage of distracted staff with fake invoices, spoofed vendor emails, and payment requests that look legitimate. These scams often rely on small details, a misspelled domain name, a fake “urgent” tone, or a cloned invoice template.

What to do:

• Verify all payment changes via a separate communication channel (phone, not email).

• Train employees to check sender addresses carefully.

• Enable MFA for email accounts.

• Have a clear internal approval process for payments.

3. Supply Chain and Vendor Risks

If your business depends on third-party suppliers, payment processors, or logistics providers, an attack on them can quickly become your problem. Recent outages at AWS and Microsoft Azure showed how dependent businesses are on their digital vendors, even if they don’t use those platforms directly.

What to do:

• Know which vendors support your core systems and where they host data.

• Ask about their cybersecurity and redundancy measures.

• Ensure your business continuity plan covers vendor outages and disruptions.

4. Fake Customer Orders and Refund Scams

Scammers may place fake orders with stolen credit cards or send “refund” requests after receiving legitimate products. These scams often spike around the holidays when order volumes are high, and staff are under pressure.

What to do:

• Watch for unusual order patterns or mismatched billing/shipping details.

• Verify large or unusual orders before fulfillment.

• Use payment processors with built-in fraud detection.

• Document all refund and return requests carefully.

5. Weak Passwords and Shared Accounts

The Louvre’s recent “password fail” (their surveillance system password was reportedly “LOUVRE”) shows how even major institutions can overlook the basics. During busy periods, it’s tempting for teams to share credentials or skip password updates, but that’s exactly what cyber-criminals count on.

What to do:

• Require strong, unique passwords for all systems.

• Enforce MFA across all cloud, email, and POS systems.

• Avoid account sharing. Create individual logins with role-based access.

6. Don’t Forget Cyber Insurance and Policy Compliance

Even with the best safeguards, incidents happen. Cyber insurance can help offset financial losses from fraud, downtime, or reputational damage, but only if your business is compliant with your policy’s terms. Many SMBs find out too late that missing controls (like MFA or regular backups) can invalidate a claim.

What to do:

• Review your policy with your broker before year-end.

• Confirm your coverage includes social engineering and vendor-related losses.

• Make sure you’re meeting all minimum security requirements to stay eligible for coverage.

Final Thoughts

Scammers don’t take holidays off, in fact, they thrive on them. The combination of distracted employees, high transaction volume, and seasonal urgency makes this the perfect time for fraud to strike.

By tightening your internal controls, monitoring your brand, and reinforcing staff awareness, you can significantly reduce your risk this season. And if you haven’t reviewed your cyber insurance and business continuity plans recently, now’s the time.

At Hudson Performance Solutions, we help small and mid-sized businesses strengthen their cybersecurity posture, align with insurance requirements, and build resilience that lasts beyond the holiday rush.

Take Action Before the Holidays:

• Review your vendor dependencies and continuity plan

• Verify your insurance compliance

• Train your team on phishing and payment fraud

• Strengthen passwords and MFA across all systems

Don’t let scammers make your year-end their payday.