Online Shopping

It is very true to say that this has been a year of increased activity and reliance on the internet for many reasons and as we now enter that time of year which traditionally sees an annual increase in online shopping, we want to focus a series of awareness raising alerts on consumerism in order to support your online shopping experience on the run up to the festive period and beyond.

Online scams reach us in many formats mainly as phishing emails, some of which are cleverly convincing, but as we consider the types of shopping deals that we are seeing online at this time of year and the pressure to buy “before stocks run out”, we want you to be careful when you shop online as these cheap deals can often be scams and you might not even receive the item you think you have purchased.

So please make careful considerations before you click and make purchases online. If you don’t recognise the business, you have the option to research it or the site and you should be without doubt you are sure who you are giving your money to. Or find a recognised seller and do business with them - It might be a few pounds more but at least you know who you are dealing with.

You can report suspicious emails by forwarding the original message to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk

If you receive a suspicious text you can forward this to 7726 which spells SPAM on your key pad.

If you have been a victim of crime, and it is not an ongoing emergency, you can report this to Police Scotland on 101. For all emergency calls, dial 999.