Online shopping has allowed buyers to find bargains and conveniently purchase from retailers all over the world. However, cybercriminals take advantage of the anonymity of online shopping to scam online buyers. If you get scammed while shopping online, you need to contact your credit card issuer, freeze your credit, change any compromised passwords, contact the online marketplace and report the scam to the FTC.
Continue reading to learn more about online shopping scams, what to do if you fall victim to them, how to detect them and how to avoid falling victim to them.
Online shopping scams are a type of online scam in which cybercriminals try to portray themselves as legitimate online sellers to steal your personal information or money. Many cybercriminals will create a fake website that either looks like a genuine seller or impersonates established retailers like Amazon. Other cybercriminals will create fake accounts on online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace and sell items that are “too good” to pass up.
Cybercriminals will create fake ads and reviews to promote the legitimacy of their website. When someone tries to buy from one of these fake websites or accounts, they are tricked into revealing their personal information or paying money for an item that isn’t as promised. Once the buyer has given the cybercriminal what they wanted, the cybercriminal will often do a bait-and-switch and leave the buyer with a counterfeit product or nothing at all.
What To Do if You Fall Victim to an Online Shopping Scam
Online shopping can be tricky as cybercriminals use many different methods to scam you. If you’re not careful, you can easily fall victim to an online shopping scam and give away your personal and financial information. You need to do the following if you fall victim to an online shopping scam.
Contact your bank or credit card issuer
If you accidentally gave away your debit or credit card numbers to an online shopping scam, you need to contact your bank or credit card issuer right away. Alert your credit card issuer that your credit card information was compromised so they can resolve any fraudulent charges, cancel your compromised card and issue you a new one. Inform your bank if you used your debit card so that you can get a new one as well.
Freeze your credit
Depending on the information compromised in an online shopping scam, you may need to freeze your credit to prevent further damage. Cybercriminals can use your personal information to take out loans under your name and damage your credit. To freeze your credit, you need to contact each of the three credit bureaus – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax – separately. If you fail to freeze your credit (or at the very least place a fraud alert) with all three of the credit bureaus, then a cybercriminal can still take out loans under your name with the bureau you did not contact.
Change any compromised passwords
Fake websites will either ask you to create a fake account with them or give up your current login credentials for the website they are trying to impersonate. If you gave up your login credentials or created a fake account with reused login credentials, you need to change any compromised passwords immediately to avoid losing access to your accounts.
Contact the online marketplace
Online marketplaces like Amazon and Facebook Marketplace offer refund policies to buyers who were scammed on their websites. If you were scammed by a malicious seller on an online marketplace, you should report the incident and contact the company to discuss a refund for any loss you endured.
Report the scam to the FTC
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a government agency that protects consumers from deceptive and unethical business practices. If you were scammed while online shopping, you should report the incident to the FTC. The FTC can’t pursue criminal charges, but it can help gather and provide information to the authorities that may be able to track down the scammer. They will also provide you with resources to help you recover from the incident.
You need to be careful when you are shopping online to prevent cybercriminals from stealing your personal information. Look for the following signs to detect and avoid online shopping scams.
The website address doesn’t look right
Before clicking on a website, take a look at the website address to see if there are any discrepancies. If you see a link that looks like one from an established retailer, check to see if there are any spelling errors in the URL such as the substitution of letters with numbers. You should also check the URL before actually clicking on it.
Too-good-to-be-true offers
If an online seller has an offer that seems too good to be true, then it most likely is. Online shopping scams will try to trick you into doing business with them by offering products at a cheaper price than other retailers. You need to be wary of too-good-to-be-true offers because they will most likely scam you with a counterfeit product or nothing at all.
Request for unnecessary information
A clear sign you are dealing with an online shopping scam is if they request unnecessary information. Cybercriminals will try to trick you into giving up sensitive information such as your Social Security number or bank account information to “finish the transaction” or access “discounts.” You should avoid sharing any sensitive information online unless absolutely necessary.
Unusual payment methods
Cybercriminals want you to pay them right away and often use non-traceable payment methods to do so. If you notice an online retailer using non-traditional payment methods such as Zelle, Venmo, Cash App or a wire transfer, then you are most likely dealing with a spoofed website that’s part of an online shopping scam.
Poor reviews of the seller
Before clicking on a retailer’s website, you should do background research to check the legitimacy of the business. Look at reviews on websites such as Google and Yelp that will let you know about previous users who have been scammed by the seller. However, some reviews on review websites can be fabricated to help trick users into thinking the scammer is legitimate, so you may also want to look at organizations such as the Better Business Bureau to check the legitimacy of a website.
Discrepancies on the website or profile
Legitimate retailers go through regular reviews to ensure their website is free of errors. You should look out for any discrepancies found on the website or profile you are buying from. Look out for any spelling errors, blurry stock photos, poor website design and performance issues to ensure you are not buying from a cybercriminal.
Lack of company information
Most legitimate businesses will have important company information they need to disclose to customers such as a return and privacy policy. If you notice that the website you are shopping from lacks standard company information such as an about us section, return policy or contact information, then you may be on a fake shopping website.
How To Avoid Online Shopping Scams
To avoid falling victim to online shopping scams and safely shop online, you need to do the following:
Shop on reputable websites
The best way to avoid online shopping scams is by only shopping on reputable websites. Most retailers have a website that allows users to buy from them online. However, cybercriminals will create fake websites that seem legitimate to trick you into revealing your sensitive information. Before clicking on an online store, do some research to check the legitimacy of the website. You should look for the signs of an online shopping scam such as discrepancies on the website, poor reviews and too-good-to-be-true offers.
Secure your financial accounts
Your financial and online shopping accounts contain sensitive information such as your credit card numbers, financial history and other personally identifiable information. You need to secure your financial accounts to protect them from cybercriminals. You can secure your financial accounts by using strong and unique passwords for each account, enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), setting up financial alerts and creating accounts with reputable retailers. These steps will ensure that only authorized retailers have access to your financial information.
Use a credit card over a debit card
Credit cards are more secure to use online than debit cards since they provide better fraud protection. When you are shopping online, you should use a credit card over a debit card to avoid being held responsible for any fraudulent transactions.
However, you need to be careful with who you share your credit card with. You should only use your credit card on trusted websites and avoid storing it through improper means such as on the merchant’s website or your web browser. The best way to store your credit card online is with a password manager or digital wallet since both are protected by encryption.
Avoid clicking on suspicious links
Cybercriminals will either send you messages with a link to their fake online store or promote them on social media. You should avoid clicking on suspicious links from unsolicited messages or shady social media ads. If you want to check the safety of a link, check the URL for any discrepancies or use a URL checker. To visit a legitimate online retailer’s website, you should type in the URL instead of clicking on search results or unsolicited messages.
Online shopping scams can easily trick users into giving up their personal information to cybercriminals which can be used for malicious purposes such as identity theft and other types of fraud. A great way to stay protected while online shopping is by using a password manager.
A password manager is a tool that securely stores and manages your personal information in a digital encrypted vault. With a password manager, you can ensure your financial and shopping accounts are secure with strong, unique passwords and prevent them from inputting login credentials on impersonated websites with the autofill feature. You can also use a password manager to easily change any passwords that were compromised by an online shopping scam.
Keeper Security offers a password manager that securely protects your personal information such as your login credentials and credit card information using zero-trust and zero-knowledge encryption. Sign up for a free trial of Keeper Password Manager to protect yourself from online shopping scams.
