The Corliss Technology Review Group, Avoid Christmas fraud

Online retailers are wishing themselves a Snappy Christmas, with predictions this will be their best year yet.

However, with the online boom comes the threat of internet scams.

More Australians shop on their mobile phones than any other market place and this Sunday our online shopping is tipped to have its biggest day ever.

Credit cards that won't ruin Christmas

EBay reckon they will see almost two-and-a-half million people come into their site to source Christmas gifts – and over half of those people will be on their mobile phone. That figure is up to 30 per cent on last year’s total.

While there remains worries over online shopping – such as the worry of not receiving your gift in time – for the time poor and those wishing to avoid trudging through shops, it can be more than welcome.

The online boom has prompted a warning, though.

While many business websites look professional and trustworthy, they are not always what they seem.

Rod Stowe of fair trading said: “Web sites that show bad English, grammatical errors - often that is a good indication of a scam-type site."

For the disorganized, surveys show a quarter of people buy their gifts on Christmas Eve - four per cent of them at a service station on Christmas day and eight per cent regift last year’s present.

Whatever you decide, remember there are only 21 days left.

Avoid fraud

A black mark on your credit file can follow you around for as long as seven years and can stop you getting credit.

7News finance expert Scott Pape has three tips to keeping a clean credit file.

1: Don’t apply for too many loans.

2: Pay your bills on time.

3: Get a copy of your credit file.

To find out your credit rating for free writes to:

Veda Advantage

PO Box 964 North Sydney NSW 2059