Alison Hammond was left concerned by a Christmas scam warning issued on Wednesday's This Morning, admitting she could have been putting herself at risk of being targeted.
At the end of last week, the ITV show's main presenting duo Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby revealed they were taking a break for the festive season and, so far every day this week, it's been Alison and her usual Friday co-host Dermot O'Leary who have been at the helm.
The popular duo took the reins again on Wednesday for a bumper show that saw them test out the must have board games for Christmas, discussing the day's big news stories and be joined by X Factor judge Simon Cowell. Another studio guest for the latest This Morning was 'scam busting' expert Alexis Conran and, as he joined her and Dermot on set, Alison quickly remarked: "Isn't it sad that they take advantage at this time of year isn't it? You know, when we just want to spend money on our families. It's horrible that we're being taken advantage of at this time."
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Alexis replied: "A lot of money is changing hands at this time; a lot of people are distracted, a lot of people are rushing and when you're rushing, you're not thinking straight. It's also Christmas time for the scammers I'm afraid."
Alexis outlined a few of the tell tale signs consumers should be keeping an eye out for in regards to potential scams, with one being fake charity appeals and another being scams on in demand products.
Alexis said viewers should be paying close attention to website, saying: "If it doesn't have a padlock, don't do business with it." However, he then added that a site having a padlock, in the top left hand corner, doesn't necessarily mean it's 100% safe, adding: "If it does have a padlock it doesn't necessarily mean it's a genuine website; all it means is that the information exchanged is secured."
Looking taken aback, Alison reacted: "See, I thought it did. I thought the padlock meant that it is genuine." And, after Alexis told her: "A scammer can use encryption with a padlock," Alison replied: "Wow."
Alexis explained that the best thing consumers can do is try to find out when a website they're unsure of was established and, if it was set up very recently, that's an immediate red flag.
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