Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/916779
8 News maltatoday SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2017 Bad elves Yuletide scammers YANNICK PACE ONLINE shoppers who come across irre- sistible deals should stop and think be- fore letting go of their money: they could be falling victim to one of many online scams this Christmas period, the head of the Maltese police cybercrime unit says. Police inspector Timothy Zammit says that despite warnings abroad of an un- precedented threat this Christmas from a range of different scams, locally the problem is mainly limited to fake online shops and dating scams. Zammit says users often start off on respected platforms such as Amazon or eBay, where they are then approached by a fraudster who draws them away from the website. "The criminal tries to take you out of their systems by asking you to send him a direct email, or not to use PayPal for affecting payment because you'd pay less charges, for example." Social media scams are also on the rise, normally involving fake online shops be- ing temporarily set up, heavily advertis- ing cheap clothing for example, before disappearing after just two days. "Between last-minute shopping and being more cash-strapped at Christmas, a person who would normally not consider a scam might give it a second thought," Zammit says, who adds that criminals were aware how the season can make loneliness more acute and targets more vulnerable. "In dating scams victims meet a person online and become convinced they will come to Malta and be with them. It's nor- mally a soldier returning from Afghani- stan or an attractive Eastern European woman." In such cases, Zammit said it was not uncommon for deluded victims to not believe they have been scammed. "They file a report because their relatives force them, and we have to try and prove to them that it was a scam." In one recent case, an individual trans- ferred over €100,000 to a scammer, but when he was blocked from making fur- ther transfers by the financial service provider, the victim got around this by asking people on the street to do it. "If you've fallen victim to a dating scam, the moment you start to suspect something is wrong, you start asking the person a lot of questions," Zammit explains, highlighting how smart fraud- sters can be. "All of a sudden you receive an email from the 'police' telling you the person you were speaking to is a crimi- nal. They say they are going to help you get your money back and refer you to a lawyer." Once the real police investigate, they almost immediately find out that same individual is behind all the email ad- dresses. Zammit cautions that users must take the same precautions in everyday life, online. "A simple Google search could flag a potential scam. We realise that people first make their purchase, then they have suspicions, and then Google it. We're just asking them to run the search before they let go of their money." Despite the police's best efforts, it was often very difficult to retrieve money once it has been sent and withdrawn. "Even when sent through bank ac- counts, the other person is exploiting the window between when you send money and when you start to have suspicions," Zammit says. After the cash is taken, it is problematic for police to identify the fraudster since the account would have been opened using fake documentation. "They tend to use banks that allow you to open an on- line account, which, by the time certain serious checks are carried out, would have already been used and aban- doned." Santa's helpers who love to decorate their homes MARIA PACE LIGHTING the way for Santa's sleigh to come their way, more and more houses are being lit up and decorated for this Christmas season. Imagine this, the weather is quickly changing and summer is coming to an end. While some people dread the fact that winter is fast approaching, Alfred Tanti on the other hand quickly starts planning how he'll be decorating his house for Christmas. Husband and father, Alfred often spends time on his front porch, thinking and picturing what decorations he could add to his eccentric collection of decora- tions. "We've been decorating ever since we got married, but every year, the decorations increase and change, and we've had more each year," his wife Rosalie told Malta- Today. "This is the first year we went all out, we've never had so many decorations before." Their decorations were up a month before Christmas, and stay up until the Italian Epiphany feast, on 6 January. Although the decorations come up in November, Alfred starts planning his decorations around September, and buys decorations all year round. When the time comes, the whole family joins in, but Alfred is always the master- mind behind the designs. "Sometimes, we just help him out when he needs us, because he usually has a very clear idea of what he wants to do." Christmas is the family's favour- ite holiday, and while outside is all lit up, Rosalie said the inside is decorated much less. Decorations keep increasing every year at the Tanti house, and new ones are bought every year. "We buy new decorations each year, and reuse our old ones as well." Rosalie said. "Alfred buys decorations wherever he finds, he even bought some for this year just as last year's Christmas was over." Throughout the festive month, the decorations are turned on as soon as it gets dark, and are usu- ally turned off either by timer or mobile phone around midnight. On Christmas Eve, they usually leave them on until 3am. The family buys most of their decorations locally, but their fa- vourite decoration of this year, lit-up pink and purple trees, were bought online. "They're our fa- vourite items of this year, as well as the tree arch around the front." However, the Tanti family aren't the only ones who love decorat- ing their house, as more and more households are decorating their homes with decorations inside and out. "This year, more people are decorating outside their houses," Daniela Gafa, salesgirl at Alistair Floral Design Birkirkara agreed. The shops often decorate peo- ple's houses for them, having calls from as early as September. The shop, which is usually a wedding and events floral design business, completely transforms itself into a Christmas shop from October until the end of the year. Apart from decorating homes and busi- nesses, they also sell personalised wreaths, personalised baubles, centrepieces and anything one would need for a party. "We offer Christmas services from September, but people often start buying festive decorations as early as August," Daniela said. Owner Alistair Fenech started the business 12 years ago, com- pletely focusing on Christmas decorations and flowers. Eventu- ally, the shop opened around six years ago, and focuses on wed- ding, houses, and festive decora- tions. "Christmas is by far one of the most popular feasts," she said. "Although people do buy decora- tions for Valentine's, Easter and other holidays, Christmas is usu- ally the most busy one." As early as September, people would want the shop to decorate their houses for Christmas, both inside and out, and some custom- ers constantly go to the shop to buy decorations. "Christmas is a busy time and we usually sell everything we have... we don't have left-over stock or sales." Although other holidays like Easter are busy, Christmas is their most popular time. In fact, the shop doesn't even focus much on Halloween, because they're usu- ally already busy with Christmas. mpace@mediatoday.com.mt Serious: Christmas is no light matter in this San Gwann house