It is of the utmost importance that consumers visit credible websites when buying Christmas hampers and other goods, an expert has stated. Mark Reeves, senior vice-president of international sales at Entrust, said that shoppers must be careful when purchasing items via the internet, as there are ways for criminals to mimic legitimate websites for their own gains. The expert suggested shoppers look at the security policy a website uses, as this will give a good indication of the standards that the retailer operates to. "Clearly, if you're buying online and you don't go to a secure session, with an HTTPS [hypertext transfer protocol secure] site, that should be an alarm bells [ringing]," Mr Reeves added. A recent study by Kelkoo revealed Brits will spend an average of £682 over the festive period, an increase of one per cent on last year's expenditure. This is more than those in Germany, Sweden, Italy, France and the Netherlands plan to spend.
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