Beware of ‘Too Good to be True’ Deals!
Author: Shaun Packiarajah
Getting a deal is awesome and as competition has grown in the retail sector, the number and frequency of sales have increased - both offline and online. We all know that nagging question when seeing a fantastic offer, “Do I really need this?” In fact, Forbes states that discounted price (and various tactics around it such as artificial scarcity) can have a profound effect on the likelihood of buying on an impulse.
But of course, scammers have also caught onto this fact. They are actively exploiting consumers love for a bargain to scam them out of their hard-earned cash online! Which? (a charity consumer protection organisation in the UK) estimates that online shopping scams cost shopping £58 million a year in the UK alone!
Setting up the Scam…
How exactly are scammers achieving this? The nature of the internet makes things a lot easier to set things up.
Making the site
First of all, any online shopping scam requires an online shop! Often this is set up using a template or readymade e-commerce shop that can be created quickly, yet looks convincing enough at first glance.
An example is MyPillow, which uses the Shopify platform. In an article in AdAge, the owner Mike Lindell expressed his outrage when his store mypillow.com was copied by a fake using the very similar mypillowstore.com… pretending to sell his products! With low monthly costs, and a relatively easy set-up process, platforms such as this make it a cinch for a scammer to open up their scam e-commerce business.
Finding the right product to scam you with
Oftentimes, the kinds of goods that are chosen to scam users with are high value, high demand branded goods. Our own analysis during the holiday period found that brands such as Adidas, Beats, Canada Goose, Fred Perry, KitchenAid, Lego, LG, Nike Ray-Ban and Ted Baker. We found that well-known brands and items that have a high luxury/monetary value are often used for fake online store scams.
Let’s take a look at one such fake website below pretending to be an official Lego retailer. The site appears legitimate as it has copied branding from a famous brand (in this case Lego) and then created a basic website around this. Sadly, it was a scam shop run from China and disappeared with customers’ money soon after launching.
Choosing the perfect time for their scam
Scammers are lurking around all year ‘round. Yet, there are particular times of year that concentrate e-commerce sales (depending on the region). This could be the Christmas rush, Black Friday, Mother’s Day etc.
Scammers know that during this period, shoppers can stray away from more mainstream e-commerce websites when their sought after item is out of stock or won’t be shipped in time. Below are some examples from our very own database.
Exhibit 1: http://cclonns.com/ - Christian Louboutin’s for $140? Please…..
Exhibit 2: holidayashop.com – Tools on the cheap… think again!
Exhibit 3: heyvips.com – You won't be riding away with a scooter... they'll be riding away with your cash!
Be careful out there… and if in doubt Check ScamAdviser Before You Buy! For tips on spotting scams, read our article ‘How to Recognize a Scam’.
Saw a deal that is too good to be true? Share it in our group Global Scam Fighters or the ScamAdviser Forum.
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Have you fallen for a hoax, bought a fake product? Report the site and warn others!
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