With Christmas 15 days away shoppers need to be on guard against scammers taking advantage of the rush to buy, especially during the final week in the run up to Christmas.

Every year, there tends to be a must buy gift, usually a toy that is in short supply due to the demand from parents eager to fulfill their children's wishes. This year the must have toy seems to be the Go Go Hamster which has disappeared from many high store shelves as it appears that many thousands of small time online marketeers have been buying the stock early from shops with a view to selling the toys online on sites such as Ebay. This has resulted in prices soaring to £60 each on Ebay against the normal retail price of £10.

The Fake Internet Shopping Website Christmas Scam

The scammers operate by setting up website's specifically targeting high demand toys that parents are eager to order, these sites seek to get hold of your credit card and bank details and usually tend to disappear within a few short weeks.

The sites tend to use the .co.uk top level domain in an attempt to entice innocent shoppers into making what appear to be bargain purchases whilst in reality the sites are usually being situated in China or other asian countries therefore making it near impossible for victims to claim for non delivery or fake goods.

The Police have been pro-active this year and have already shut down more than 1,200 scam web sites during the past 2 weeks that purported to sell designer clothes and jewellery at bargain prices. The crackdown under the name "Operation Papworth" has not only already saved many tens of thousands of online shoppers from not only losing their money on scam purchases but also from identity theft.

The way to avoid being scammed is to ensure you only buy from a reputable and longstanding online retailers, one way to ensure this is to search for the name of the website on google for feedback from previous customers to ensure that it is legitimate. Also if you do buy online use your credit card rather than your debit card as you have greater protection on credit card purchases.

Nominet Culpability?

Anyone anywhere in the world can register a co.uk domain within a few mouse clicks. Nominet refuses to act responsibly by restricting co.uk to British citizens and entities for if it did so then over 90% of scams emanating from co.uk domains would disappear overnight. The reason why nominet refuses to act is purely because of money, £'s earned for the registration of co.uk domains across the world.

Email Scams

Avoid opening and acting on unsolicited emails that entice you to click through to a special offer, that may take you to a site that attempts to infect your computer with spy ware or a virus.

A variation on this is the e-card scam, an email that purports to be from an un-named relative or friend which again attempts to entice you to click on a link which will attempt to infect your computer with a virus or trojan.

How to Avoid Email Scams -

a. Never open or click on links in emails from people you don't know.

b. Install a good anti-virus and internet security software such as by Symantic and Kaspersky .

The Delivery Card Premium Call Scam

Also be on the look out for missed delivery cards being dropped through your home letter box that carry a premium number to call to arrange delivery. Calling the number results in an answering phone message, the number usually originates overseas and can result in a hefty charge even for a short call.

Have a safe and scam free Christmas

Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article15720.html

By Nadeem Walayat
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Nadeem Walayat has over 20 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis specialises on the housing market and interest rates. Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. We present in-depth analysis from over 400 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets. Thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

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