Santander UK has issued an urgent alert to customers as a wave of sophisticated online shopping scams threatens to ruin Christmas, with fraudsters specifically targeting stressed and time-pressed shoppers.
Pre-Christmas Fraud Spike and Soaring Losses
The bank recorded nearly 450 purchase scams in just the two weeks before December 25 last year. The situation has worsened significantly, with customer-reported losses during the 2024 festive period 75 per cent higher than in 2023.
During the three-day Christmas period in 2024, a total of £30,722 was reported stolen from Santander customers. This marks a steep increase from the £17,552 stolen during the same period the previous year.
Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Risk Management at Santander UK, explained the heightened risk. "In the days before Christmas, shoppers are at their most vulnerable," he said. "As we approach the last shopping weekend, people are stressed, in a rush and desperate for gifts to arrive on time, and scammers know it."
He revealed that hundreds of the bank's customers paid for items that never existed, often realising the deception too late to find replacements.
The AI-Powered Threat and a Critical Safety Tip
While UK Finance data shows a decrease in overall Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud cases and an increase in funds returned to victims, the threat has evolved. The average loss per APP case in the first half of this year stood at £2,325, though this figure varies widely across different scam types.
Experts warn that artificial intelligence has supercharged the capabilities of criminals. Colette Mason, an Author and AI Consultant at London-based Clever Clogs AI, stated: "Santander's warning is spot on, but people need to understand the full threat of AI. We're not talking about dodgy emails with typos anymore."
She described a new generation of hyper-convincing scams, including:
- Fully cloned websites that pass standard credibility checks.
- Personalised emails that perfectly mimic legitimate retailers.
- Fake product pages replicated pixel-perfectly from real ones.
"The festive season has always been a scammer's paradise, but AI's turned it into an industrial operation," Mason told Newspage. Her top practical advice is unequivocal: "Don't click email links ever. Type the website URL manually."
Staying Vigilant During the Festive Rush
Pete Staffel, Santander UK’s Behavioural Scientist, shared a personal near-miss to illustrate how convincing these scams can be. He described finding an ideal family game via an online advert, complete with a convincing demonstration video and a warning of limited stock.
"Just before clicking buy, I checked the reviews, it was a scam," he admitted. His warning is clear: "Don’t let the build up to Christmas cloud your senses. Scammers don’t take the holiday season off... they will be looking for ways to be the grinch that steals more than your Christmas."
Santander's final advice to all shoppers is to pause, double-check the seller's authenticity, and maintain extreme caution towards any deal that appears too good to be true.
