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Cyber crooks join Santa to dish out free presents

Santa may be busy preparing to dish out Christmas presents to those who behaved well this year but so too are cyber crooks, who are planning to dish out free online threats, it has been revealed.

Several scams and booby traps related to the festive season are lined up and one way to expose yourself to the internet security threats is looking for free items using the name Santa, a security expert warns.

A variety of dangerous holiday-related search terms exists and Santa is included with adware, potentially unwanted downloads, and spyware lying behind this name and related terms, according to McAfee.

The online security firm says search terms such as free Santa holiday screensaver, Christmas tree download, Santa ringtones and free Santa music downloads all have some element of risk.

Internet users have also been advised to keep an eye out for charity-related scams through fake charity phishing emails.

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