Children secretly shopping with parents' cards

A fifth of British children are shopping online using their parents' credit card details without their knowledge, according to a new poll.

It is estimated this adds up to £191 million spent a year.

On average children are shopping seven times a year making average purchases of £25, the poll for life assistance firm CPP.

However, while children are becoming savvy about online shopping, it is parents that need to take some control.

Some 70 per cent of children knew the sites where their parents shopped and a fifth knew their passwords.

Only six per cent of parents polled claimed their cherubic offspring had access to their credit card details and only two per cent thought their children could possibly have made purchases without their permission.

Michael Lynch, card expert at CPP, said: "We are urging parents to be very vigilant with their bank card details, and to make sure they supervise children's internet use.

"Being lax with details online could not only expose parents to sneaky purchases by their children, but also to the dangers of online fraud.

"Web fraudsters are getting increasingly sophisticated, and card not present fraud is on the rise. We are advising people to make sure they log out of sites when finished, to check that shopping websites are legitimate and to avoid storing credit or debit card details online."