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Shopping Securely

Christmas may be a season of good cheer for all, but that doesn’t mean you have to include fraudsters in your gift list. And yet, according to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, scammers helped themselves to more than £15million over the Christmas period last year. That works out at an average of £1,000 for every victim. 

Action Fraud highlighted the range of scam items on offer, with one individual loosing £150 trying to buy a mobile phone via a social media platform, whilst another handed over more than £7,000 in return for a non-existent campervan. With one, unnamed, social media platform accounting for more than half of the online Christmas scams it is perhaps unsurprising that 19-25 year olds were more likely than most to fall victim to online purchase frauds. 

In response, Action Fraud is urging shoppers to: 

• Protect their accounts by setting up 2-step verification and use passwords comprising three random words. 
• Choose carefully where they shop and research online retailers if they haven’t been used before. 
• Pay securely using a credit card or payment platform and only use sites with display the closed padlock sign in the web address bar which indicates that the connection is secure. 

 And remember, if a bargain looks too good to be true then it may well be a scam.