With Christmas just around the corner, it can be a very busy and stressful time of year. Between festive gatherings, ticking off what’s left on your yearly to-do list and shopping online for that perfect gift, it can be easy to let your guard down against fraudsters.

Australians lost more than A$2 billion to scams in 2024. This year, losses are likely to be similar.

Often, scammers will try to create a sense of urgency, pushing their intended victims to act now. As we prepare our shopping lists and festive lunches, now is also the perfect time to be alert to scams.

Here’s how to prepare yourself – and your loved ones – for a safe and scam-free Christmas and New Year.

Online shopping scams are particularly rife at this time of year, with sales season well under way. They can take many forms.

Scammers will create fake online stores, create advertisements for products that don’t exist or send products that are inferior in quality to what was expected.

Many people are expecting more packages than usual to arrive at this time of year. Taking advantage of this, scammers send phishing text messages........

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