The holiday season brings out decorative lights, travel plans, and unfortunately, scammers. Charity solicitations surge, online shopping hits its peak, and travel bookings skyrocket, creating prime conditions for fraud. To find out where Americans are most and least likely to get scammed this holiday season, PasswordManager.com analyzed 2025 data from the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network.
The differences across states are sharp. Some experience extremely high levels of online shopping and business imposter scams, while others report comparatively little fraud. Here’s where consumers face the greatest holiday scam risk — and where they’re safest.
These states report the highest combined levels of charitable, travel, online shopping, and business imposter scams.
Washington, D.C., experiences a significant surge in year-end digital activity, from holiday online shopping to charitable donations, as well as a flood of business and government communications, which intensifies exposure to scams during the months of November and December. D.C.’s large professional and federal workforce interacts heavily through email and online platforms, creating more openings for business impersonation attempts. Combined with strong e-commerce engagement heading into the holidays, the district consistently posts the highest scam activity across multiple categories.
Nevada’s holiday season is one of its busiest periods for tourism, with Las Vegas and Reno experiencing a surge in travel, entertainment, and event bookings in November and December, which are all common targets for scam activity. High volumes of hotel stays, show reservations, and travel packages create fertile ground for fraud during the holidays. The state’s significant hospitality and gaming industries also see increased customer outreach at year-end, aligning with elevated business impersonation scams.
Delaware’s high exposure to holiday-season scams is driven by strong online shopping participation heading into November and December, reflected in the state’s #1 ranking for online shopping scams. End-of-year digital transactions and widespread broadband access contribute to an increase in scam attempts during peak holiday shopping periods. Delaware’s large presence of corporate filings and professional services also aligns with an increase in business impersonation scams during the year-end rush.
New Hampshire sees heavy holiday travel tied to winter recreation, which increases opportunities for travel-related fraud during the holiday season. The state also reports high levels of year-end online engagement, which tracks with its elevated business imposter and online shopping scam activity in November and December. These combined seasonal factors place New Hampshire among the highest-risk states for holiday scams.
Colorado’s robust winter tourism season generates significant consumer activity in November and December, resulting in increased exposure to travel scams. The state’s high rates of online shopping also align with its elevated levels of online retail and business imposter scams. Together, these factors make Colorado one of the highest-risk states during the holiday period.
“People can spot holiday shopping, travel, and charity scams by paying attention to common red flags,” says PasswordManager.com’s cybersecurity expert, Gunnar Kallstrom. “One of the biggest is being contacted out of the blue by phone, text, or email. Scammers often create a false sense of urgency and push you to send money or personal information quickly. Anything that pressures you to act fast should make you pause.”
These states and territories report the lowest scam activity across all four categories, making them the safest places for holiday spending.
Puerto Rico reports the lowest scam activity in the country across all four categories, keeping overall holiday-season risk minimal. Even with tourism, scam rates remain low in travel, online shopping, and business impersonation. This consistent pattern places Puerto Rico at the bottom of national holiday scam risk rankings.
North Dakota posts low scam levels across every category, placing it firmly among the safest states for holiday consumers. Low population density and limited high-risk seasonal spending behaviors reduce exposure to common holiday scams. Even in categories that typically surge nationally, North Dakota remains consistently below average.
Mississippi exhibits low exposure to holiday scams across charitable, online shopping, and travel categories. The state’s smaller online retail footprint reduces the volume of e-commerce fraud that spikes during the holiday season. While business imposter scams trend slightly higher, overall risk remains among the lowest in the country.
Iowa’s holiday spending trends are less concentrated in high-risk categories, such as winter tourism and large-scale online retail, resulting in fewer scam opportunities. The state sees low levels of business imposter fraud and online shopping scams, both of which typically spike during the holiday period. Iowa consistently ranks near the bottom in all scam categories during the holiday season.
Although Louisiana is a major tourism destination, its peak travel season isn’t during the holidays. As a result, the state experiences less holiday-specific travel activity that scammers often target. Combined with modest online shopping and business impersonation levels, Louisiana ranks among the lowest-risk states for holiday scams.
Holidays are a prime time for increased scams. Kallstrom notes, “Scammers are more active during the holiday season. People tend to let their guard down at this time of year, making them easier targets. On top of that, holiday sales mean people are spending more money than usual, giving scammers more opportunities to strike.”
Below are the top five states with the highest per-capita scam rates in each category, highlighting where specific types of fraud are most concentrated.
Charitable donation scams involve fraudsters pretending to be legitimate charities or creating fake ones to solicit money from consumers, especially during peak giving season.
Travel scams include fake travel agencies, fraudulent booking confirmations, misleading travel deals, and deceptive rental listings that target consumers planning holiday trips.
Online shopping scams involve fake online stores, undelivered goods, fraudulent social-media sellers, and deceptive payment schemes that spike during holiday shopping periods.
Business imposter scams occur when criminals impersonate legitimate companies using spoofed phone numbers, phishing messages, fake customer service contacts, or fraudulent order alerts.
The data for this report was sourced from the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network, using 2025 year-to-date reports. Four scam categories that are relevant to the holiday season were examined.
For each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, we calculated reports per 100,000 residents in all four categories. Each jurisdiction was then ranked from 1 to 52, where 1 indicates the highest scam rate and 52 indicates the lowest.
Overall scam-risk scores were calculated using a weighted formula in which business imposter scams accounted for 40% of the score, online shopping scams for 30%, charitable donation scams for 20%, and travel scams for 10%.