Hunting for bargains online? Be wary of sale scammers. Fake websites impersonating well-known brands are the latest vectors in a growing wave of online shopping scams and it’s easier to fall for them than you might think.
What is a sale scam?
The premise of a sale scam is pretty basic—but very convincing. Scammers use a fake shopping website to promote bogus sales. The fake sites are cleverly designed and branded to mimic popular shopping websites.
Once on the fraudulent website, unsuspecting shoppers are enticed with irresistible bargains on premium products. Many of these counterfeit stores list what appears to be genuine merchandise for as low as 50% off or more.
After purchasing, the scammers will send you a counterfeit product or something totally different from what you ordered—if they ship anything at all.
Perhaps more worryingly, many sale scammers are not just after money. Fraudulent sites collect sensitive information from innocent users. Even if you don’t buy anything from the site, you might still be enticed to share your personal information, such as contact, identity, and banking details.
Why are sale scams so hard to detect?
Not so long ago, keen internet users could easily recognise fake websites because they looked “off.” But nowadays, it’s nearly impossible, even for tech-savvy shoppers, to tell an imitation site from the real thing. Sale scammers are upping their game by putting a lot of thought, work, and care into creating the deception.
Here are three main reasons fake websites are increasingly successful at fooling shoppers:
Professionally designed web pages
Most fraudulent sites are professionally crafted and bear an uncanny resemblance to their mirror websites. Everything from the content, colour scheme, theme, product pages, and layout leave no clues to the site being illegitimate. Even grammatical errors, poor-quality web content, and low-res images are becoming rare.
Usually, scammers publish product images, descriptions, and web content stolen from legitimate sellers to make their dodgy websites look authentic.
Social media advantage
Social platforms provide a convenient cloak for fictitious websites.
For one, scammers can hone in on their ideal victims through highly targeted ads. Second, it’s difficult to discern a website’s URL when opened within a social platform. And third, the scammers can “sell” their false wears directly to users on social media, for instance, via marketplaces or phoney company groups/pages.
Boosted SEO ranking
Scammers are paying advertisers to boost their sites’ ranking on search engine result pages. And as they appear as credible websites with “natural-sounding” URLs ending in common top-level domains such as .com and .au, you can stumble upon fake websites as the top picks in search engine results.
How to spot a sale scam
Identifying a sale scam or a fake webstore can be tricky, even for avid online shoppers. However, there are some telltale signs that can help reveal the ruse:
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Unbelievably low prices
Sale scammers lure victims into their snares using absurdly low prices, claiming a seasonal or one-time discount. They normally target shoppers hunting for good deals on luxury, sports, fitness, outdoor, or household items.
If the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Legit businesses do offer discounts in seasonal sales, but not at the unrealistic, mouth-watering rates scammers do.
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Unusual or limited payment methods
Watch out for online stores that insist on using unconventional payment options such as cryptocurrencies, direct wire transfers, or digital tokens such as gift cards. Always pay for goods and services using secure, globally recognised means such as credit cards.
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Inconsistencies
As much as scammers take their time to design legit-looking websites, they can lack the patience to see it all the way through. So, you might find inconsistencies and blatant mistakes all over the site. For instance, some text may be copy-pasted, product images and descriptions mixed up, and some pages designed differently than others.
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Incomplete or missing company information
Malicious websites usually skip on displaying detailed company information. And if it’s there, it may be incomplete or full of irrelevant details. Important pages, such as “About Us” and “Contact Us,” may be lacking altogether.
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Unverifiable reviews
Sale scammers post fake online reviews, testimonials, and endorsements to push purchase decisions. These are crafted to look like legitimate customer feedback, often from reputable third-party customer review platforms. But since the reviews are bogus, they are rarely linked back to their source.
Never trust a review you can’t verify and, by extension, the site that posts such reviews. It also helps to look up the site’s real reviews. What do the actual customers say about the legitimacy of the site?
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Young domain age
Shopping scam websites are short-lived. They come and go in a matter of months or weeks, as scammers constantly shift between URLs and brands. So, fraudulent websites are mostly pretty young.
Granted, a domain’s age is not apparent when browsing a website. But there are ways to look up a URL’s age and history using online domain checkers. When suspicious of a website, a quick domain age check can make all the difference in evading a scam.
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Questionable due process
The shopping processes on fraudulent websites often feel rushed. The scammers want you to pay as quickly as possible. To speed things along, they skip key steps in the checkout process, such as selecting a payment method or creating a user account. You may not even get an order confirmation email with all the accompanying details, such as the order number and shipping information.
What to do if you get scammed
If you suspect you’ve been scammed by an impersonation website, jump into action immediately, especially if you’ve shared sensitive information. First, understand that no good will come out of contacting the scammers. Instead, contact your bank to stop the transaction if it’s not already completed.
Next, change all your account passwords and enable extra security (MFA, biometrics, security questions, etc.) where possible.
After talking to your bank and securing your online accounts, report the incident to Scamwatch and the police via ReportCyber. If the scammers have your personally identifiable information (PII), make a report to other government authorities.
It’s also important to warn your friends, family, and colleagues about the scam. Do your part in creating and spreading awareness about sale scams to help other Australians avoid this type of cybercrime.
This article is intended to provide general information of an educational nature only. This information has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, before acting on this information, you should consider its appropriateness having regard to these matters and the product terms and conditions. Terms, conditions, fees, charges and credit criteria apply. We do not recommend any third party products or services and we are not liable in relation to them. Any links to third party websites are for your information only and we do not endorse their content. Information in this article is current as at the date of publication.