Irish people have lost over €1.1 million so far this year through online shopping scams.
Gardai say 489 online shopping frauds have been reported to them so far this year.
In one case this year, a 69-year-old man from Laois bought a JCB online for €15,000.
However, he had bought it from a fake company's website and the JCB was never delivered.
Another case involved a Leitrim woman buying a Playstation for her child through an online forum .
She transferred €240 to the seller, who then went offline and wouldn't reply to messages.
Gardai are now asking people to be careful if they're buying online in the run-up to Christmas.
Another type of fraud Gardai are watching is where businesses are targeted by criminals using stolen or compromised credit cards and bank accounts.
There have been 346 incidents so far this year, with losses of more than 374 thousand euro.
*Reporting by Stephen Murphy
