Lincs: Police have launched ‘The 12 Online Frauds of Christmas’ campaign

The campaign started on Friday 28th November, which marked the start of the busiest four days of internet shopping of the year.

Lincs Police will be doing everything they can to raise awareness of a dozen online frauds that have the potential to ruin your festive fun.

Working in partnership with the City of London Police, which is the National Policing Lead for Fraud, begin by shining a light on the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ of online shopping.

So far in 2014 74 per cent of all adults nationwide have bought goods or services online, and this December around 50 per cent of UK citizens are expected to use the internet to buy more than half of their Christmas presents.

The good news is the majority of people will still have presents delivered to their doorstep or into their email account without a hitch.

However, the sad reality is there will also be tens of thousands of people across the UK whose Christmas will be damaged, and in some cases destroyed, after finding out they have fallen foul of heartless criminals who specialise in tricking internet users with the promise of great online deals and big cash savings.

Every day throughout the 12 days of Christmas Lincs 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 10 more online festive frauds, identified by the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).

More internet safety advice can be found at www.getsafeonline.org and www.cyberstreetwise.com

Or to contact Action Fraud to report cyber fraud call 0300 123 040.