Kim Macdonald: Scammer Claus out to take advantage of parcel anxiety this Christmas

If you have ever ordered anything online, chances are you have received a text telling you when your item is ready for delivery.

It seems innocent enough, especially at this time of year, but in some cases it is not.

Case in point was a text I received recently which claimed to come from Australia Post, but which was in fact a very clever dupe of communications from our national postal service.

It is one of thousands of consumer scams doing the rounds, with a 47 per cent jump in reported online deceptions this Christmas, according to Westpac Bank.

The text in question included a link to an official-looking website where I could track my delivery online.

By that point, I was not concerned, because I’ve seen plenty of these types of websites in the past.

But alarm bells rang when it said an item was being withheld at a post office because I had not paid the provider enough for postage.

A credit card payment of $9.95 was required before my item would be delivered to my house.

My first fleeting thought was that my payment for postage from abroad had somehow only covered enough to get the product onshore but not all the way to my house.

I then managed to pause long enough to realise this was a) a stupid assumption, and b) part of a scam.

But I have no doubt that some people would have given over their credit card details without too much thought at all.

It seems scammers are quick to take advantage of our parcel anxiety, which has many people fearful that the presents they have ordered will not arrive before December 25.

It’s the type of anxiety that has some of us up at night making up Plan B, C and D if said presents do not arrive in time.

Combined with the general pace of life at this time of year, it is little wonder scammers are doing a roaring trade.

So how can you protect yourself from these shysters?

Firstly, if possible, use a payment platform like Pay Pal. The system still pays for orders from your credit card, but Paypal stores your card details and pays through its data encrypted platform.

Some scammer sites claim on their homepages that they accept Paypal, but when it comes times to pay, the link to the platform suddenly disappears. If this happens, do not trust the site.

A lot of scam websites are hard to pick from the real deal these days. Often, they will use the same layout and exactly the same images which have been ripped from a genuine webpage.

But the scam website will sometimes offer an extra big discount, like 80 per cent off the regular purchase price. Or there may be something a bit off with the URL, such as the inclusion of an unusual set of numbers.

Sometimes these scam sites are advertised as outlet stores through social media platforms, such as Facebook.

Buyers must beware.