Preventing Fraud & Scams
Securing Your Personal Information
One of Harbor Freight Tools' highest priorities is keeping customers' personal information secure and confidential. Below are some of the typical scams that you may encounter as well as suggestions on how to protect yourself against identity theft and fraud.
Fake Emails or Survey
This criminal activity is called “Spoofing”. Spoofed emails are designed to look as real as possible by using email addresses or links that look like they are coming from a real company like Harbor Freight – even though they are not.
Below are some tips to think about to keep you safe from bad emails and texts:
- Be suspicious of any email or text that asks for your personal information, credit card information or passwords.
- Look for spelling and grammar errors. Suspicious emails and texts are often poorly written.
- If you are suspicious of any email or text, do not open it. Do not open or download anything attached to it. Do not click on any link in it. And do not reply to it. Doing any of these things may spread a virus and harm your device.
- If you are suspicious of any email or text, delete it immediately.
If you are a victim of an email or text scam, be sure to take appropriate action. We recommend you change your passwords, call your credit card company, and notify credit reporting agencies to freeze or lock your information.
To report any suspicious emails or surveys that are using the Harbor Freight Tools name, please send them to reportascam@harborfreight.com.
Fraudulent Email SamplesPaid Product Review Scam
Harbor Freight will NEVER offer to pay for a review. We value your opinion and welcome your feedback. It is important, to us and to you, that our product reviews are authentic, unbiased, and accurately reflect the user’s opinion.
Fake Websites
Fictitious Job Offer Emails
The emails described above are fraudulent. Harbor Freight Tools does not extend job offers via email to individuals with whom it has had no prior contact. We do not ask prospective employees to pay a fee to be considered for a position or to receive a job offer — nor do we authorize recruiters or agents to do any of these things on our behalf.
You should not respond to any of these job offers nor send any funds to anyone. If you receive one of these fraudulent offers, you should report it to the appropriate law enforcement investigative authorities at the local, state, federal or international levels. Citizens who are aware of federal crimes should report them to local offices of federal law enforcement. Additional details regarding cybercrime reporting may be found on the United States Department of Justice website https://www.justice.gov. Additional resources and information may also be found on the Federal Trade Commission's website https://www.ftc.gov.
Pop-Up Ads, Malware, and Adware
Check Scams
Preventative Measures
- Never respond to emails that cannot be verified
- Never provide personal information via email nor over the telephone unless you have initiated the phone call to a recipient phone number that you know is legitimate
- Contact businesses by using legitimate phone numbers to verify requests
- Enter harborfreight.com using your browser and not by clicking on outside links
- Be cautious of any solicitation requesting that you deposit a check or pay a fee to collect a prize, get a job or cover vaguely described "costs"
- If you think you are a victim of cybercrime, consider filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission and/or state attorney general's consumer protection office or the FBI. Online complaints may be filed with the FTC at https://www.ftc.gov or the Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/. If you think you are the victim of identity theft, consider filing a report at https://www.identitytheft.gov. Additional resources and more information may also be found on the Federal Trade Commission's website https://www.ftc.gov.
To report any suspicious emails or surveys that are using the Harbor Freight Tools name, please send them to reportascam@harborfreight.com.