With more than 50 per cent of people set to do at least half their Christmas shopping online this December, Essex Police has launched a festive online fraud campaign to raise awareness of the crime.
The 12 Online Frauds of Christmas kicked off yesterday, on Black Friday, which marks the beginning of the busiest four days of the year for online shopping.
The campaign will highlight a different kind of cybercrime every day, and Essex Police is working in partnership with the City of London Police, the NationalPolicing Lead for Fraud, to shine a light on the do's and don'ts of online shopping.
Essex Police Superintendent Keith Davies, head of Fraud investigation, said: 'We fully support the campaign and it supports all the work we are putting out about fraud prevention. We want to highlight to the public that fraud isn't just a scam it's a crime. Our fraud awareness leaflet is available for everyone to download on our website www.essex.police.uk/fraud."
The police hope the campaign will go some way towards preventing the online fraud that has the potential to ruin Christmas for tens of thousands of people across the UK.
After highlighting the dangers of Black Friday' the campaign will move on to 'Cyber Monday' (Dec 1) which will focusing on the hazards of opening Christmas e-Cards sent via email that, unknown to the recipient, may be carrying a virus that can embed itself and then corrupt your smart phone, tablet or laptop.
Every 24 hours for the next ten working days, Essex Police will be working with 37 other local police forces and a range of public and private sector organisations to flag up the threat of ten more online festive frauds, as identified by the City of London Police's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). The December running order is:
Nov 28: Online shopping fraud
Dec 1: Christmas e-cards
Dec 2: Auction fraud
Dec 3: Holiday fraud
Dec 4: Loan and investment scams
Dec 5: Ticketing fraud
Dec 8: Donating to charity
Dec 9: Mobile malware/malicious apps
Dec 10: Money transfers
Dec 11: Social media scams
Dec 12: Dating/romance scam
Dec 15: Mobile payments
City of London Police Commander Steve Head, who is the National Police Economic Crime Coordinator and is overseeing 'The 12 frauds of Christmas' campaign, said:
"Easy access to the internet has revolutionised the way we shop and pay for Christmas gifts and festive breaks, and how we go about searching for a New Year romance. Unfortunately it has also made us vulnerable to crooks that specialise in creating online cons that lure people in with the promise of cheap deals and stress-free purchasing, or that corrupt our smartphones, tablets and lap tops with computer viruses.
"The key to staying safe this December, and throughout 2015, is to understand the nature of the threat we face and to have easy access to information that will keep us out of the clutches of cyber-fraudsters.
"This is why we have created the 'The 12 online frauds of Christmas' and set-up a unique law enforcement and public and private sector partnership that I believe can deliver the campaign's key information and safety tips to millions of people who will be using the internet over the next few weeks in search for the best possible gifts and the most stress free festive period."
For more information, visit http://www.essex.police.uk/12frauds
