But they did. Thousands temporarily blinded by the prospect of an unexpected windfall sent their personal details winging into the ether and into the hands of criminals. When they next looked, like Old Mother Hubbard their bank account was bare.

Victims lost on average £31,000 according to one report and, often embarrassed by the cost of their credulity, many were reluctant to contact the police. Publicity surrounding the Nigeria scam, known as phishing, means today ignorance is no excuse. However, a dose of commonsense may not be enough to spot the latest internet identity theft scam.

With the credit crunch impacting on the annual Christmas shopping splurge, many looking for bargains are turning to the internet. Sadly, according to an expert from the University of Hull, they may also be leaving themselves vulnerable to a new and sophisticated scam.

"At the moment, phishing tends not to be targeted well, so most people just delete those kind of emails," says Dr Darren Mundy, lecturer in digital media at the university's Scarborough campus. "But it is getting increasingly clever and the amount of internet fraud caused by phishing is on the up.

"Nowadays there is technology which can track your movements across the internet, for example from your bank website to an online bookstore or clothing store.

"This information can be used to con people into handing over their details, saying there is a problem with a recent transaction from an online store for example. From there, fraudsters can elicit bank details and passwords to gain access to financial accounts."

Even with heightened awareness and high-profile campaigns many still don't realise how easy it is for their information to be stolen. Security packages have led to a sense of complacency, but many are easily overridden by those whose job it is to find loopholes in the system.

Banking industry data released earlier this year showed card losses from both phone and internet scams totalled £290m last year and while the Government has invested £29m in fighting online fraud those behind the scams always seem one step ahead.

Various undercover investigations have shown just how easy it can be to access stolen card details on the web and with those responsible often difficult to track down the number of victims is likely to rise even further,

"There are many computer programmes out there which can easily decrypt what you would think is secure information, such as passwords and credit card details," adds Dr Mundy.

"Once a hacker has those details, they can then sell them on to criminals for a huge sum of money. The worry is that because internet thieves often take small amounts from many accounts, sometimes well after the details have been stolen, consumers may have no idea it is happening."

Last year, shoppers spent £15.2bn in the three months leading up to Christmas, and this year is expected to be even bigger.

The ease of online shopping and the promise of bigger discounts without having to battle through a crowded high street can mean rich pickings for cyber criminals and many experts believe the true scale of the problem has been hugely underestimated.

So what advice would Dr Mundy give to shoppers this Christmas?

"As a starting point, I would recommend people don't have the same password for everything, which a lot of people do," he says.

Dr Mundy also advises
internet shoppers to stick with reputable stores which have secure trading and a privacy policy on their sites and
check that their own internet software security programmes are up to date.

He does offer some comfort, however, to the millions of people shopping online in the coming weeks. He says most large companies have robust internet security policies.

"It is an issue of trust," he adds. "If people don't have faith in a company's security policy, then they simply will not use that website. So it is in the interests of banks and major online companies such as Amazon to have decent processes in place."