Parents have been warned about spam emails that promise their children a letter from Santa.
Security company Sophos said the emails were just a ruse to trick people into confirming their email addresses to the spam gangs who would then continue to target that address with more unsolicited messages.
The messages come with subject lines such as Letter From Santa For Your Child and Santa Letter from the North Pole and offer personalised letters to your child from Father Christmas.
"Just like any other time of the year, users need to remain vigilant about spam... rather than confirming your email address to a complete stranger by replying to this unsolicited message, delete the email and consider other ways to make your kids happy this Christmas season," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.
http://www.sophos.com/