Beware of the cyber crooks targeting you while you’re Christmas shopping

Christmas is coming…and the fraudsters are getting fat.

People preparing to do their Christmas shopping online are being warned to be wary of bogus sellers.

Online festive shopping is expected to rival the High Street for sales this year with millions of pounds splurged between now and Christmas.

But experts say the cyber retailing experience could offer up a less-than-welcome holiday treat if people fail to check out where they’re posting their bank details.

Trading Standards are currently being swamped with more than 100 complaints every week from embarrassed buyers who claim to have been victims of web shopping fraud.

And that number is likely to rocket as Christmas shopping gets under way in earnest.

Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, said buyers need to be wary at this time of year as “more people than ever are shopping online but there are many risks associated with doing so”.

He added: “Customers should always check retailers are reputable and ensure the website is secure before entering payment details.”

A dossier compiled by The Sunday Post shows that Trading Standards officers throughout Scotland have processed 16,946 complaints against online retailers since 2009.

Reports detail allegations lodged against independent businesses, auction website sellers, supermarkets, leading high street retailers and even global chains.

Alongside thousands of complaints about items never arriving, sellers are also accused of misrepresenting hotels, B&Bs and hire cars, trading counterfeit goods, debiting money twice from people’s accounts and the bogus selling of concert and sporting tickets.

One shopper had £135 deducted from their account for a £7 invoice, while another saw their bank account completely wiped.

Others had gripes with the quality of the goods received, with one driver £13,000 down after buying a car that wouldn’t start, while a similar case saw one web buyer fork out £2,000 for one that never arrived.

Meanwhile, a family’s £3,000 investment went down the drain when their spa bath didn’t show up.

Figures released by Financial Fraud Action UK earlier this year showed that a record £174.5 million was lost to fraudulent internet, telephone or mail purchases in the first half of 2014 a 23% rise on the same period a year earlier.

And the trend for buying on the web is believed to be behind that surge. But it’s the run up to Christmas that provides the most fertile time for rogue cyber retailers. And it’s easy to see why.

Last Christmas, online shopping rivalled high street spending for sales. On the first Monday in December online shoppers spent £600m in Britain alone last year.

Craig Jones of Financial Fraud Action UK said: “We have seen increasing evidence that criminals are using the anonymity of the internet to defraud online shoppers. This can have a damaging effect on the victim, who naturally feels vulnerable when using the internet for future transactions.”