One in five regular online shoppers has lost money through scams over the past twelve months, new research has found.
More than one in ten of those said they had lost more than €500, the analysis by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) FraudSMART campaign found.
"Our research shows that that eight out of ten consumers plan to shop online in the run up to Christmas, with only 3% saying they never shop online," said Niamh Davenport, head of financial crime at BPFI.
"During this peak online shopping period there is an increased risk to shoppers, with fraudsters primed to take advantage of Cyber Monday and the Christmas rush."
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"Scammers often use contaminated links hidden within emails, social media and online adverts which lead unsuspecting shoppers to counterfeit websites."
"These fake sites often impersonate well-known stores or brands offering 'discounted deals' to entice people, only to disappear after a shopper has made a payment, leaving them without their purchases and out of pocket."
But the study found that one in every five shoppers admitted that they do not take basic online security precautions.
These could include looking for the padlock at the start of a website address that indicates a secure connection and checking the address begins with https.
Using public wifi for payments is also considered a risk.
"Almost 50% of online shoppers confess to clicking on links from social media or pop-up ads instead of independently visiting and checking the website of the company," said Ms Davenport.
"With more than one in ten shoppers who have lost money in an online scam, reporting losses of over €500, we are calling on people to be extra vigilant as the Christmas shopping season ramps up, especially with Cyber Monday deals flooding inboxes and social media feeds."
The warnings come as FraudSMART launches a new online tool to help shoppers to check the legitimacy of websites and links.
Visitors to Scamchecker.ie can cross reference a link with a real-time database of known scam sites and malware hosts.
"We are calling on all consumers to pause for thought before parting with their money or information online and familiarise themselves with some of the very straight forward steps they can take to protect themselves," said Ms Davenport.
