Don't be a loser this Christmas

Luckily I think we are all wise enough to avoid falling victim to festive scammers. Or are we?

Now a lot of people I know have switched from sending paper cards to e-greetings cards this Christmas which is a good thing in my book.

Scrooge-like as it sounds - I don't see the point of sending out loads of cards which (hopefully) just end up in the recycling bin a few days later - so e-cards are an environmentally friendly way of sending out some Christmas cheer.

But criminals are not looking to give Seasons Greetings with their festive messages - they just want your money - and will use every available opportunity to get it.

Get Safe Online, a consumer security awareness initiative is warning that Christmas Day will see a heightened number of scam emails hitting peole's in-boxes. The scumbags. (I'm talking about the scammers by the way, not Get Safe Online).

Watch out for a deluge of emails purporting to be from your bank or other reputable organisations and don't, for God's sake, click on any of them or reveal any information. If they are who they say they are, they will already have the information on you they need and won't need you to 'remind them of your pin number' in an email.

I always find it shocking how many people are still scammed by these fraudsters - particularly the ones promising a share of millions if you just send them a cheeky £50,000 or so.

Or you hear of the women that get taken in by that dodgy bloke after their life savings.....

Come on people, wake up and don't be a turkey brain.

If you get an email and it sounds too good to be true - it probably is.

Merry Christmas one and all. See you in the New Year.