People buying incontinence pads and other items on the internet have been told by the UK's national internet security awareness campaign to take the necessary measures to protect their personal information.

Get Safe Online urged consumers to understand all the risks that come with online shopping and called on them to take steps to minimise the chances of the threat getting through to them.

"Use a specific credit card when you are online, and check that card regularly. Only go to sites that use secure processing of payments," advised the campaign's managing director Tony Neate.

"There are lots of things people can put in place, and one of the most important things is to make sure the computer you are using is secure, so [use] anti-virus [software] and anti-spyware."

Incontinence products, including pants, pads, diapers and sheets can be easily obtained on the internet thanks to specialist internet retailers such as allaboutincontinence.co.uk.