Crooks who’ll sabotage your Christmas

CHRISTMAS shoppers are being targeted by devious email scams, warn banks.

Trade body UK Finance says criminals are sending online shoppers fake emails that appear to come from legitimate delivery companies to trick them into handing over personal details.

It reveals that fraudsters are scouring shopping websites and social media to find out what presents people plan to buy. The crooks then send carefully targeted scam emails. These seem to come from popular retailers and ask you to click on a bogus website link to claim a voucher — possibly for something you’d been eyeing up already.

Scammers are also sending emails that direct people to fraudulent charity websites to make Christmas donations.

Under banking rules, people who unwittingly hand over their details to crooks rarely get their money back. Dave Clark, City of London Police Commander and national co-ordinator for economic crime, said that fraudsters are preying on people’s generosity at this time of year.

‘It is more important than ever that people do everything they can to protect themselves from fraudsters,’ he adds.