Android and iPhone users are being warned to be vigilant over the Christmas period, as cybercriminals are out in force.

Your smartphone may be one of the most useful tools when it comes to organising Christmas dinner and ordering the presents in.

However, it's also one of the most useful tools for scam artists, who want to take advantage of your festive cheer to make a quick buck at your expense.

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This includes dodgy links being sent out in emails, text messages or WhatsApp to your smartphone which could put you at risk of phishing, viruses, or even identity theft.

Never click a link from someone you don't know and always double check their contact details are accurate.

There's also a huge range of billing scams, where someone claims a payment from you has failed and you need to 'update your information' or use a 'secure bank account'.

Always check with your bank by contacting them yourself to double check if there is actually a problem.

Then there's other scams around fake website pages, dodgy verification codes, and more which are designed to trick you out of login details.

Ariana Bag, a fraud analyst at Proxyrack, said: "The holiday season is a very enticing time for shopping. However, with this encouragement comes an opportunity for scammers to take advantage of people's willingness to spend money.

"With this in mind, it's important to remain vigilant and aware of any potential scams that may come your way."

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Another popular scam right now comes from scammers who try to hoodwink Amazon shoppers into claiming refunds for items they never ordered.

Cybercriminals send out scam texts telling Amazon customers that a pricey item has been ordered in their name, and that they're due a refund.

However, the scam is actually designed to see you install an app which hands over complete control of your phone to hackers so they can steal your private data and even your bank details.

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