Bank of Scotland has issued an urgent warning to last-minute Christmas shoppers not to be duped by fraudsters this festive season. New research by the bank has discovered that the number of online shopping scams increased by 20 per cent in December last year, compared to the same period in 2020.
The average amount people were tricked into handing over was £427, however, those aged between 55 and 64 lost more than double that, around £1,000 on average. Most of these scams start via online platforms such as Instagram or Facebook Marketplace, with victims lured in by the promise of cut-price or hard-to-find goods - especially during busy shopping periods like Christmas.
The most common items reported as part of online shopping scams in a typical December include trainers, clothes, gaming consoles and phones. A poll of more than 2,000 UK adults found that a third of people (33%) would take more of a risk at Christmas, such as purchasing from a website they haven't heard of before, if they are buying something that is hard to find elsewhere.
