Online shopping scams are growing as more and more people opt to do their shopping over the internet. Social media is a perfect opportunity to market products to people everywhere. However, minimal barriers to how a product can be sold have led to a surge in online shopping fraud. Cybercriminals now use these platforms to promote fraudulent products directly to millions of users with the intention to exploit them. As with any scam, awareness drastically lowers your chances of becoming a victim.
These online shopping scams target high-volume shopping periods. Public holidays, flash sales, and seasonal promotions are the favorite events of the scammers. This threat is only one part of a big ecosystem of internet sales scams. Scammers use a variety of platforms to target unsuspecting buyers. It’s important to understand how these scams work, how to identify them, and how to report them. Understanding the basics of online shopping security is very important to protect others and yourself while shopping online.
What Are Online Shopping Scams?
Online shopping scams are based on fraudulent offers. Criminals use different shopping offers on social media channels to deceive consumers into purchasing fake, bogus, or misrepresented products. These scams utilize social media platforms, fake e-commerce websites, and peer-to-peer marketplaces. Scammers use compromised or fraudulent seller accounts on well-known retail platforms to scam customers.
These schemes are not limited to fake products or the absence of product delivery. Online shopping scams work at an advanced level of fraud to redirect payments and create subscription traps. AI-generated product scams are now popular. Health product scams that promise unrealistic results have become a popular fake product in online shopping scams.
How do online shopping scams work?
Online shopping scammers are adopting a predictable pattern to attract social media users, including social media ads, posts, and direct messages that are sent to the potential victims. These social media ads and offers create a sense of urgency and put pressure on victims to release the payment quickly. After getting the payment, they don’t send the product.
Common Types of Online Shopping Scams
Cybercriminals continue to evolve their tactics with the advancement of technology and digital services, and online shopping scams are no exception. Perpetrators take advantage of their victims’ desires for convenience and trust in popular platforms, using the technology at their disposal to create deceptive advertisements. These schemes can take on many forms, but the following online shopping scams are most frequently seen by our experts.
Fake Product Scams on Social Media
Scammers typically look to move quickly and use ads or sponsored posts to spread the message to a large audience in a short window. There are minimal restrictions as far as who can create an ad or sponsored post, making it an attractive tool for scammers. In an effort to quickly gain credibility, cybercriminals often impersonate legitimate brands to draw victims in. This allows the perpetrator to overprice their items, steal your information, or take your payment without ever shipping the product.
Marketplace and Resale Platform Scams (Amazon, eBay, Facebook, TikTok)
Marketplace sales scams are very dangerous for online shopping activities because they exploit the trust of users on renowned platforms. The scammers may hijack seller accounts and create fake storefronts to pose as legitimate vendors. In other cases, they post fake listings similar to legitimate products to attract victims. These scams are very common on different popular platforms, such as Amazon, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, TikTok Shop, and similar resale platforms.
Subscription and “Free Trial” Scams
Another very popular technique being used by scammers is promoting fraudulent free trial offers or low-cost subscriptions on online shopping platforms. They may reach out to you with phishing messages posing as legitimate companies and ask you to renew your subscription or update your payment information. Due to limited knowledge or a lapse in judgment, the victim agrees. This “subscription” is then used by the scammers to capture the financial details of the victims.
AI and Health Product Scams Online
The latest of these scams include AI and health products. In these types of scam, the scammers are using fabricated testimonials, manipulated images, and overstated claims to promote “miracle” medical products. For example, the perpetrator may offer medical products for rapid weight loss and miracle cures. In other cases, they may be advertising advanced AI-powered devices that do not exist.
How Fake Product Scams Operate on Social Media
Social media scams come in various forms. However, fake product scams are especially dangerous because most victims can never recover the money that they lost. One of the key elements to online shopping fraud is establishing credibility, which is the purpose of using legitimate social media platforms to promote their fake products.
Common Tactics Used by Product Scammers on Social Media
- Fake ads and sponsored posts for cheap or luxury items. Scammers are typically not patient, and they use ads or sponsored posts to quickly find victims. There are not a lot of limitations on who can create an ad or sponsored post, so staying vigilant is important.
- Impersonation of legitimate brands and sellers. Attempting to quickly gain credibility, cybercriminals often impersonate legitimate brands to draw victims in. This allows the perpetrator to overprice their items, steal your information, or take your payment without ever shipping the product.
- Use of fake reviews and testimonials to build credibility. Reviews and testimonials are primarily how you can identify a fake product. However, sophisticated scammers will create fake reviews to make themselves look credible to consumers.
- Direct messaging with too-good-to-be-true offers. It is a good practice to approach any offer online that is too good to be true as a potential scam. You should verify the seller, visit the main website of the product, or avoid taking the risk entirely.
- Requesting payments through untraceable methods like gift cards or crypto. Traditional financial transactions leave a lot of data behind that can be traced. On the other hand, gift cards and cryptocurrency are difficult to track which is why criminals use them.
- Adopting a fake pet scams. Aspiring dog parents looking to adopt may stumble upon a fake pet adoption posting like a puppy scam in the Facebook Marketplace. People looking to pay for specific breeds may pay for a pet before they see it themselves, opening the door for scams and fraud.
- Using fake products to receive customer’s private information. Sharing your financial information with the wrong person can lead to devastating losses. Some fake products can be used to receive a customer’s private financial information which they will then use for online extortion or fraud.
Platform-Specific Product Scam Examples
There are different scams that can be found on every social media platform. However, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X (formerly Twitter) are some of the most popular platforms for scams. Here is a breakdown of how to approach the four different platforms when it comes to scams.
Facebook Marketplace
Like any market, Facebook Marketplace is full of scams from buyers and sellers. Facebook allows for anyone with an email to create an account, page, or make a listing on the marketplace. However, the platform allows users to connect on the marketplace through proximity which means buyers can verify the product in-person before paying for it.
- Shipping scams. A scammer will never ship an item you paid for, and sometimes will even create fake shipping labels to trick you.
- Overpayment scams. A buyer will send a seller more than the price of an item and request the seller to return the surcharge. Then, they file a chargeback to get their initial money returned — along with the surcharge.
- Faulty or counterfeit item scams. A scammer will sell an item that is broken or a cheaply designed imitation for more money than it’s worth.
- Car scams. Fake car listings can be a ruse to trick you into clicking a malicious link, steal your money online, or sell you a faulty car without your knowledge.
- Rental scams. Fake rental properties are abundant on Facebook. Some will trick victims into sending a security deposit or requesting a fee to simply view the property.
- Puppy scams. The scammer will post about a puppy litter on Facebook and will pose as a breeder or rescue shelter. They will avoid meeting in-person but will agree to shipping the puppy through freight or courier. However, the puppy doesn’t exist, and they will continue to milk money from you with additional fees.
Instagram may not have a marketplace, but they do have influencers and online shops. Influencers have a lot more credibility on Instagram because of the visual nature of the platform. Scammers can impersonate an existing influencer or create a fake profile from scratch. After they gain a following, they can begin luring their followers into a scam. Here are a few common scams to look out for on Instagram.
- Customer support phishing scam. Instagram users will receive a message from fraudsters posing as customer support. The message will be urgent like a “Suspicious activity alert” or “account deletion imminent.” However, the scammers are tricking victims into clicking on a malicious link in a panic.
- Romance scams. Scammers use a fake profile to build a romantic relationship with a victim in direct messages. After the criminal builds trust with the victim, they will claim they need financial help or will demand a gift for validation of the relationship.
- Brand collaboration scams. Targeting influencers, scammers will pose as brands and present profiles with a partnership proposal. If accepted, the perpetrator requests payment for partnership fees to continue forward.
Snapchat
Scams on Snapchat are typically sophisticated, using social engineering and phishing tactics to lure unsuspecting victims into giving away valuable information. Snapchat may be a less popular social media platform than Facebook or Instagram but the scams are just as dangerous. The scams can even descend into life-altering territories like Snapchat extortion. Here are a few scams to watch out for on Snapchat.
- Catfish scams. A scammer will pose as a public figure on Snapchat and then message strangers as that persona. This could lead to a romance scam, a phishing link, or even Snapchat extortion.
- Notification phishing scam. Posing as Snapchat IT support, the criminal will send the victim an email notifying them of a new message on their account or an urgent matter. The link, however, will direct the user to a malware-infested site.
- Fake product scams. Using Snapchat’s advertising or through fake profiles, a scammer will promote a fake product with the purpose of gathering private financial information from victims.
X (Formerly Twitter)
Anyone with an email can create a X account. On top of that, enrolling in X Premium (Twitter Blue) gives scammers more visibility than the usual platforms. Bots on X are also egregious and plentiful in their attempts to scam users. If you plan to use X, here are a few more scams to look out for.
- Fake giveaways. Giveaways asking users to retweet, follow, or provide personal details are common on X. However, some of these giveaways are used to lure users into clicking a phishing link.
- Crypto scams. Crypto bots have flooded X with offers that are too good to be true, giveaways, and posing as legitimate companies. These are all used by scammers to trick users into sending crypto or to capture your private information.
How to Identify a Fake or Fraudulent Online Store
The main way to combat the surge of fake product scams is to quickly identify the scams on social media. No matter the platform that you use, these red flags will help you find and avoid scams online.
- Unrealistically low prices. If it’s too good to be true, stay cautious. An extremely low price can be used to draw in as many potential victims as possible.
- Poor-quality websites with missing contact details. Most reputable sellers will have websites that provide basic contact information and details about the product.
- Limited or no return policies. For online products, businesses provide a grace period for consumers to make sure the product is what they expected. Limited or no return policies are peculiar and a sign that the seller may not have the best intentions.
- Pressure tactics urging immediate purchase. Reputable sellers will work with a consumer to complete the purchase. However, a scammer will get impatient and may use aggressive tactics to expedite your purchase.
- Strange payment methods (no PayPal, credit card, or escrow services). As we mentioned before, traditional payment methods are easily traceable. A strange payment method may be a sign that this is a scammer.
What to Do If You Encounter an Online Shopping Scam
If you have encountered a fake product scam or already made a purchase, you must act fast to preserve your finances or private information. Here are a few steps to take immediately when it comes to social media scams.
- Do not engage further with the scammer. You should stop replying to their messages when you realize they are a scammer. However, do not delete any correspondence. The messages you have are evidence that may advantageous in the future.
- Report the ad/seller to the social media platform. Reporting social media scams is important. The seller may be removed which can prevent others from becoming their victim.
- Alert your bank or payment provider if a transaction has occurred. Banks are generally required to refund unauthorized transactions. However, if you willingly send money to the scammer, it will depend on the policy of your bank or provider.
- Secure your network. Use heightened security settings on your online accounts. Update your passwords and enable two-factor authentication (2FA) if you haven’t already. Check for any unauthorized sessions and run reputable malware scanning software.
- Share awareness in community groups to warn others. Spread the word with as many people as possible to reduce the scammer’s ability to lure unsuspecting victims. You can also encourage your close friends or family to report the account as well.
How to Report Online Shopping Scams
Reporting a scam is essential to get the perpetrator removed from the platform. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X have simple reporting systems in place to capture scams. You can use the following instructions to report a scam on any of the four platforms.
- Visit Facebook Marketplace.
- Find the product.
- Click the three dots.
- Select “Report.”
- Choose “Scam.”
- Go to the product page.
- Click the three dots.
- Choose “Report this listing.”
- Select a reason and follow the prompts.
- Visit the profile of the seller.
- Click the three dots.
- Select “Report” and follow the prompts.
Snapchat
- Go to the public profile.
- Click the three dots.
- Select “Report.”
- Choose the appropriate reason and follow the prompts.
X (Formerly Twitter)
- Go to the post or profile.
- Click the three dots.
- Select “Report.”
- Choose “Spam.”
- Your report is added to an automated review process.
How to Prevent and Avoid Online Shopping Scams
When it comes to online shopping fraud, you have to do your due diligence. Don’t rush to buy a product without verifying the seller through the official brand store or investigating their business to find anything suspicious. Here are a few more tips to spot online shopping fraud.
- Read reviews from third-party sources. Reviews on the website provided by the seller or the social media platform aren’t the most reliable. Instead, look to other websites and third-party sources for authentic experiences.
- Use secure payment methods with fraud protection. Digital wallets like Apple Pay protect users from online shopping fraud with tokenization which replaces sensitive information that’s provided in an online payment with a one-time use “token.”
- Avoid clicking on suspicious links from unknown accounts. Always verify links before clicking on them. You can hover over the link to see the destination URL or use URL checkers to see if there are any red flags.
Get Help from Digital Forensics Corp
Staying vigilant on social media and assuming a product could be a scam will allow you to approach every seller carefully and will reduce the likelihood of falling for a scam. Unfortunately, there are people who have fallen victim and suffered financial losses because of these scams. However, there are experts that can help victims of social media scams.
Digital Forensics Corp., for example, is a cybersecurity firm that is well-versed in the ways of cybercriminals and uses the latest technology to help victims fight back against their attackers. Our digital investigators are well experienced in tracking digital footprints and revealing the identity of cybercriminals all around the world. If you have been a victim of social media or online shopping scams, contact Digital Forensics Corp. today for help.
FAQ About Online Shopping Scams
What are the common car sales scams?
Fake listings, payment redirection, and forged vehicle documents are common tactics used in car sales scams.
How do online holiday shopping scams work?
Scammers exploit urgency, limited inventory claims, volume of shoppers, and seasonal discounts in online holiday shopping scams.
What are mystery shopping scams?
Victims are paid with fraudulent or stolen funds and asked to return a portion of the funds.
What are signs of fake product scams?
The main signs of fake product scams are the unrealistic pricing, fake reviews, and undetectable payment requests.
How do eBay and Amazon sales scams work?
Fraudsters utilize compromised or hacked seller accounts and counterfeit listings to victimize the users of eBay and Amazon.
