How to protect yourself from Christmas fraud
Alice Beer’s here with her Christmas consumer clinic and answers your questions - from using Arcadia gift cards, to posting Christmas gifts and warning you about the dangers of cyber fraud.
Quick and safe Christmas posting
Postage dates
+ Last day for 2nd class postage is Friday 18th December and the last day for 1st Class is Monday 21st. After that you're paying for Tracked 24 and Special Delivery which is much more expensive.
Parcel sizing and weight
+ If you are putting a gift in with your Christmas cards make sure it is no more than 5mm thick otherwise it goes from letter to large letter.
+ Weigh your parcels at home and print the label then you can drop them off without queuing or use one of the Post Office Parcel letter boxes.
How to protect yourself from cyber fraud
Over last year's Christmas shopping period (from November 2019 to end of January 2020) there were 17,405 reports of online shopping fraud, reporting a loss of £13.5m.
+ Use a strong and separate password for your email
+ Create strong passwords using three random words
+ Save your passwords in your browser
+ Turn on two-factor authentication
+ Update your devices and apps
+ Backup your data
The trouble with gift cards
ARCADIA (Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Burton, Wallis, Evans and Outfit) - Gift cards will only be valid for 50% of a purchase. The rule is now in place in stores.
DEBENHAMS - preparing to close all 124 of its UK shops if a buyer is not found for the business, after also appointing administrators. Will still accept gift cards with no spending limit. But the retailer has warned shoppers to use their gift cards as soon as possible.