THE Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is advising Christmas shoppers and revellers to play it safe with their credit cards.

"This is a peak time for credit card fraud and consumers should be streetwise during the festive season," said regional ACCA spokesperson Ilyas Patel.

He said thieves moved "incredibly quickly" to spend money on stolen cards before credit card issuers were alerted.

He said that even though most credit card issuers would absorb the costs of fraud, once informed, the process of negotiation with the bank could be lengthy and tortuous.

Also, any receipts or forms with credit card information on them could be used by thieves to create a "clone card".