At least one security firm is feeling confident in the face of a potential avalanche of fraudulent activity over the Christmas holiday period. Fraudsters expecting to cash in during the festive period may find their thieving stockings empty this year because of the SuperSearch National Fraud File launched by anti-fraud firm the 3rd Man in August.

The SuperSearch fraud database is a UK and international online 'neighbourhood watch' service that enables retailers, banks and consumers to protect themselves and each other from credit card fraudsters. The service allows retailers to share information about fraudulent activity.

Research recently conducted by Forrester revealed that over £13.8bn will be spent online by UK shoppers, up nearly half on last Christmas, and while fraud rates are expected to rise in parallel, online fraud prevention will also be at an all time high.

"In the first four days of December 2007 we saw a 32 per cent increase in volume of orders over last year. We also saw a 130 per cent increase in the level of attempted frauds detected using SuperSearch, our online fraud scanning system," said Paul Simms, CEO of the 3rd Man.

"In December we easily expect to prevent over £8 million in attempted fraud detected by the many retailers that use this service. This will rise significantly in the new year as disappointed fraudsters try to cash in on January sales."