Multiple Faces Detected
January 24th, 2022
Search Anyone
If there’s a perfect time to go online shopping, it’s during the holiday season as the biggest deals for different products await you. However, con artists are also just behind their computer screens waiting to execute the biggest scam and take away all your money.
They usually do this by setting up fake online stores or sites. Read on to know how to spot a fake online store during the holidays and how you can avoid online shopping scams!
7 Red Flags To Look Out For
1. No Privacy Policy
Reviewing an online store’s privacy policy will help you understand the types of information being collected and why or how they’ll make use of your personal data. However, you may not find any privacy policy in a fake online store.Â
If there is one, the statements for a fake store will be too vague. It’s a major red flag as the store may have just been established to steal your credit card information. You might want to shop somewhere else instead of sharing such crucial information without any protection.
2. Limited/Suspicious Contact Details
Legitimate online stores provide their business email, address, and phone number to make sure they can attend to your concerns as quickly as possible and give you a smooth shopping experience.
Meanwhile, a fake online store will most probably provide a Yahoo or personal email. There’s no phone number or physical address either. You’re only given a form that asks you to enter your personal information. Entering these details will only make you vulnerable to identity theft.
3. Unrealistic Deals
Offering products at incredibly low and unrealistic prices is a common tactic that scammers use as they know you’re rushing to grab those attractive deals. Instead of immediately hitting that checkout button, visit different sites and do a price comparison first. If it’s way lower than other stores, the product might be faulty, or worse, non-existent.
4. No Return Policy
When shopping online this holiday season, you’ll want to know your options in case you’re not satisfied with the product or it’s defective. However, a fake online store doesn’t have any return policy. If the scammers provided one, the descriptions sound vague and complicated. If there are no clear refund options, just consider shopping in a reputable online store.
5. Poor Grammar and Website Design
A fake online store is more likely to have typos and spelling or grammar mistakes. Content is also incoherent. While crooks create fake sites and even copy the logos and images of other known brands, you might notice a poor design on their page.
Photos have low resolution, and the layout doesn’t look professional. Note that legitimate businesses value the design and overall look of their site because it will affect their reputation.
6. Bad Reviews
Another major red flag to watch out for is poor reviews from previous customers. Before purchasing anything from the store, do a quick research and add terms like scams and complaints to the retailer’s name. To determine if other users have reported the store, you can also take advantage of the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) scam tracker tool.Â
7. Strange URLs and Domain Names
While a legitimate retailer uses simple domains taken from the name of their business, a fake online store would have extra characters in its URL. If you look closely, you could spot typos as well, like Walmrt.com or Amaz0n.net.
Other scammers would even add catchy words like discounts, deals, and sales. You’ll also see domains like .app or .bargain instead of the usual .net or .com.
Holiday Online Shopping: Ensure Safety With Social Catfish
The holiday season may allow you to snag the best deals, but you should also know how to spot a fake online store to avoid a horrible shopping experience. Whether you have the name, email, phone number, image, or username, use our reverse search platform to verify a suspicious seller’s profile!
