How often after the Christmas holiday do we read of unhappy people who have bought items on the internet, only to find out that they have lost their money owing to fraud.

The usual case is where bank transfers are involved. An advert asks for you to transfer money from your bank to another account owned by the seller. If you are asked to do this, just stop there. Once the money leaves your account there is no way to recover it when the item doesn’t turn up.

You will find that the account is drained of the monies and closed, and your money lost.

Pay by PayPal or credit card. Don’t use a debit card, as this loses a lot of your rights when you do.

Protect your money and think before you give it over to someone that you don’t know.