The holiday season is behind us and gift return season is ramping up. You may have already been concerned about identity theft while doing your holiday shopping, but you might want to hold onto that caution if you’re returning unwanted gifts.

Return fraud is a huge issue in retail, and in an effort to protect themselves, stores will often request a driver’s license or government ID for returns without a receipt. This becomes even more common after the holidays, when customers are likely to say they don’t have a receipt for a gift they received.

What is it about the holidays that seem to ignite the spark for uncoupled people? Some say the combination of cold weather and the holidays creates a need for cuddles, also known as “cuffing season." With all the single ladies and men jumping online to find a date for the festive season, it also brings out the scammers, or catfishers.

Whether you’re hopping onto Match.com, Zoosk, or other online dating app, you’re likely to see a fresh crop of daters joining the scene, especially right after the first of the year. Catfishers know this, too. In fact, catfishers, or people who pose as someone else looking for love, have managed to scam nearly $1 billion out of those longing for love since 2015 in the United States and Canada. The catfish scam is only getting worse, and you’re likely to encounter one regardless of which dating site you use.

One scam that’s going around on Facebook is the Secret Sister" gift exchange. Secret Sister, which was spotted frequently last holiday season, promises that you’ll get back up to 36 gifts for purchasing and mailing a single $10 gift for your “secret sister.” The catch? You have to invite six of your friends to participate.

As the holiday season approaches this year, you might be feeling a bit wary of using your credit or debit card at certain retailers who have had data breaches in the past. You’re not alone. In fact, the majority of Americans (75 percent) say they are at least somewhat, if not very, concerned about the potential of a similar occurrence.  

The main reason to be concerned about a data breach of your financial information is the threat of identity theft. If a hacker manages to break into a database with customer information, there’s a chance yours could be stolen and sold on the dark web.