The five big scams of Christmas | Money

Fraudsters may be expecting bumper profits from the season of goodwill.

The amount of money lost to scams and the number of shoppers duped spikes in December as people spend more online. With fraud already on the rise — £754 million was stolen by criminals in the first half of the year, up 30 per cent on last year — festive fraud is expected to follow suit. Here’s what to look out for.

Loan fee scams, where the victims are asked for an up-front fee when applying for a loan, typically spike around Christmas as people look to borrow money to deal with the costs.

Once you have paid the fee, the criminals either disappear or come back asking for more. Once you hand this