Watch out for scammers and fraudsters, when Christmas shopping online this year.
That’s the warning from the Guards, who are advising customers to be alert to “red flags” when buying gifts through the web.
Nearly 500 online shopping frauds have been reported so far this year, with an overage loss of 2-grand per incident.
Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan is in charge of the National Economic Crime Bureau.
He outlines a case that took place last week in the Midlands:
"A lady decided she'd buy an iPhone 12 online.
"She saw an advert on social media; it guided her to what she believed was a legitimate website and she paid €1,200 for the phone, only to realise two days later that it wasn't a legitimate website that it was a cloned website.
"When she contacted the real website she found out that they don't even supply the iPhone 12 as of yet."
Detective Lordan says that due to a quick response from the woman and her bank, she was able to recover the funds.
"She was one of the few lucky ones I'm afraid because most people don't realise that they've been scammed until it's too late and the money has cleared all the accounts."
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