Shopping Season Kickoff: Survival Tips

The holiday shopping season will be in full swing this weekend, starting with Black Friday, and continuing with Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Fairfax County offers the following tips to be both a safe and savvy shopper.

Stay Savvy

• First things first: Wear comfortable shoes!
• Evaluate the Deals: Not all advertised items are great deals.
• Prepare a shopping list.
• Plot your route from store to store based on store opening times.
• Scope out key retailers the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to learn each store's floor plan in advance.

For more tips on shopping smart, visit the Fairfax County website.

Stay Safe

-Watch your personal belongings at all times.

-Avoid using your cell phone in crowded malls and stores. They serve as a good distraction to help thieves take advantage of you.

-Monitor your bank account regularly.

-Leave multiple credit cards and other important documents at home when holiday shopping.

-Beware of strangers approaching you for any reason. Various methods of distracting you are used with the intention of taking your money or belongings.

-Scams to be aware of, according to Detective Clinton Beach, of the Fairfax County Police Department:

• "Winning lottery ticket": The victim meets up with someone in parking lot of a store is told he could purchase a winning lottery ticket if he withdrew money and gave it to the suspect. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn't. Don't withdraw funds for any sort of lottery ticket in a parking lot. Purchase tickets from authorized dealers only.      

• Purchase of vehicles on eBay: Victims wire thousands of dollars without a contract or visual inspection of the vehicle prior to inspection of the purchase. The vehicle is never delivered and there is very little police can do. Purchase vehicles in person at local dealerships; never wire money for this purpose.

• Various cases involving Craigslist
• : A 59-year-old Fairfax woman was approached in the Tyson’s Galleria parking lot of Neiman Marcus by a young woman who claimed she was out of gas and needed a ride to a station, police said. The victim invited the woman into her vehicle but as she drove toward Route 123 the suspect produced a knife and told the driver to get out of the vehicle. The victim was left at the intersection of Old Courthouse Road and Route 123, police said.

-Don't leave valuables in plain sight in your car while it's in the parking lot

-Always have car keys in hand to ensure easy access to the vehicle