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December 9, 2025
Find out how to protect yourself from scammers at Christmas.
Fraud expert, Becky Hayes, highlights how scammers are particularly active at Christmas and the steps we should take to protect ourselves.
Christmas is an expensive time of year — and fraudsters know it. With so many scams around, it’s all too easy to end up sending our money to criminals. They target us on social media, by text, email or WhatsApp, and via fake websites that appear in our searches. So it’s vital to stay alert in the run-up to Christmas.
1. The “too good to miss” festive bargain
Worried about the cost of Christmas, many of us go hunting for bargains online. Social media is flooded with ads, and among genuine retailers are thousands of fake shopping sites promising “rock-bottom prices” and “flash sales”.
These sites often mimic real brands in their web addresses, making them hard to spot at a glance. A site like gucci-clearanceoutlet.co.uk may look convincing but can send out poor-quality counterfeit goods at designer prices.
After I recently searched online for watches, my Instagram and Facebook feeds filled with ads for luxury brands at massive discounts: for example, a £5,600 Omega Seamaster supposedly reduced to £1,500 with a “free gift worth £1,000” — but only if I bought within ten minutes. As a fraud consultant, I know this is a classic scam: a high-value product at an unrealistic price, plus pressure to buy quickly for fear of missing out.
According to UK Finance, these “purchase scams” cost consumers about £53 million in the first half of 2025 — and that’s just the reported cases.
To protect yourself:
Staying sceptical — especially about “amazing” festive deals — could save you a lot of money and stress this Christmas.
In the run-up to Christmas, many of us are constantly receiving parcels — and fraudsters exploit this with fake delivery messages.
You might get a text or email that appears to be from a courier or Royal Mail saying:
The message always includes a link asking you to enter sensitive details such as card numbers, passwords, or your date and place of birth. These can be used to steal money immediately or to commit identity fraud, running up debts in your name.
This is known as a phishing scam. Whether the sender pretends to be a delivery firm, HMRC, your bank or a social media platform, these fake links help criminals steal hundreds of millions of pounds every year.
If you receive one:
Christmas appeals surge at this time of year, and many people choose to donate instead of exchanging gifts. Fraudsters exploit this by pushing fake charities through TikTok, Facebook and X, often sending direct messages with a link to a supposed “project”.
Scammers either use AI to build a completely fake charity site or clone a real one to ride on its reputation.
To stay safe:
Report fake charity sites to the National Cyber Security Centre and actionfraud.police.uk.
4. The gift-card request scam
Gift cards — from high-street shops, Amazon, gaming platforms and more — have become hugely popular. Their digital versions are especially attractive to scammers because the unique codes are easy to spend, resell and hard to trace.
Recently, my hacked Facebook account was used to message friends asking them to buy me iTunes gift cards “for Christmas”. Luckily, they spotted something was off — but many people wouldn’t think twice about what seems like a simple favour or a quick present.
If you receive a message from someone you know asking for gift cards:
Staying sceptical can save you — and your friends — a lot of money and stress.
5. The winter heating allowance scam
Winter heating payments are being made now, and fraudsters are targeting pensioners with phishing texts and emails. These messages claim you must reapply, that there’s a problem with your payment, or that you’re eligible for an increase — all designed to get you to click a link and enter bank details, dates of birth or other sensitive information. Some even demand a small “admin fee”.
None of these messages are genuine. The stolen details are used to create fake identities or sold on the dark web.
The Department for Work and Pensions will never ask for bank details by text or email.
If in doubt, call the Independent Age helpline on 0800 319 6789.
6. The Christmas love-affair scam — boosted by AI
Many romance scams actually begin before Christmas, when fraudsters know they can soon ask for “gifts” — money, vouchers or high-value items. They build what looks like a genuine relationship, then create urgent situations such as a child’s Christmas present or money for a flight to visit you.
AI now makes these scams even harder to spot: criminals can generate convincing voice notes, videos and even live video calls using someone else’s face.
Warning signs:
If you find a fake profile, report and block it on the platform. If you’ve been asked for money or already sent anything, report it at actionfraud.police.uk.
7. The winter-sun holiday scam
As people start planning getaways, scammers create fake travel websites and social media ads — or clone real ones. Others pose as “independent travel bookers” offering unbeatable prices. You may think you’re paying for flights or accommodation, but the booking doesn’t exist.
They often use stolen images and even send links to genuine sites to make their offer look better.
To protect yourself:
Report fake sites as explained in section 1.
Finally
Report all scam attempts, even if you didn’t lose money. The more data authorities have, the better they can understand the true scale and impact of fraud.
actionfraud.police.uk. will soon be replaced by Report Fraud, a new police-run service for England, Wales and Northern Ireland designed to make reporting easier and clearer.
Fraud is rising fast — every report helps strengthen the response.
Much of what we have highlighted in this article is applicable year round and if you want information on the latest scams read our article – Latest scams you should be aware of.
Becky Holmes book Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love with Youis out now and The Future of Fraud will be published in 2026
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