DON'T GET SCAMMED for Christmas!

These shoppers were looking for festive purchases when they fell victim

Gold Coast teacher Rachael Rae thought she was going to have two very happy children on Christmas Day after spotting a friend selling Taylor Swift tickets on Facebook. "It was someone I knew well and I didn't question her story that she was going to a wedding and so now had Taylor Swift tickets available," Rachael, 50, tells Woman's Day.

Knowing two of her three children were huge Swifties, Rachael private messaged her friend and then transferred $600 into the woman's bank account.

Rachael went to bed that night happy about the purchase. But the next day came a message from her younger daughter, warning that their mutual friend had been hacked on Facebook. It was the friend Rachael had just sent the money to.

"I couldn't believe it. I was angry and then felt stupid. It felt so real and genuine but I'd been scammed," says Rachael. "Even the bank account I transferred into was in my friend's exact name. How could the banks let that happen?"

Unfortunately, the bank had little to say and simply directed Rachael to Scamwatch. "They couldn't give me my money back and they said it wasn't worth getting the police involved," she says.

Rachael's since discovered another friend was also scammed out of $600 and this is by no means an isolated case. Hundreds of Facebook users have been targeted with similar scams, with many losing hundreds and thousands of dollars on fake Taylor Swift tickets.

ONLINE TRICKS

Sharon Watkins couldn't remember if she'd ticked the Amazon Prime free trial box when she'd shopped online last. But after receiving a phone call to say she'd be charged $99 unless she unsubscribed, she decided she must have.

"I didn't want to pay $99 so I pressed the button to unsubscribe," Sharon, 54, tells Woman's Day.