Lloyds Bank says tens of thousands of customers in the UK are falling for fake websites while shopping.
The bank says credit and debit card customers have been fooled into buying items that never arrive, pouring a total of $8 million (£6 million) into the hands of scammers in the last year alone, reports Yahoo Finance.
Scammers are masquerading as popular brands on social media in order to trick victims into visiting the phony sites and purchasing what they believe to be legitimate products.
As an example, a company going by “SM Wallet” posed as luxury clothing outlet House of Fraser, shoe store Office, pharmaceutical giant Superdrug and others.
After advertising big discounts to lure people into clicking, the products they were selling online either didn’t show up, were a much cheaper rip-off, or the order was completely wrong.
In one instance, one customer thought they had ordered Dior perfume but instead received a ring for a small child.
These types of scams have caused a 211% rise in credit card payment disputes, according to Lloyds.
Gavin Evans, senior manager for consumer cards at Lloyds Bank, says,
“When we spot a bargain online, it can be tempting to snap it up, but it’s important to remain vigilant and know that rogue retailers use social media to promote significant discounts on goods they have no intention of delivering…
Remember the old adage — if something appears too good to be true, it usually is.”
Says Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at consumer group Which, warns consumers to double check the domain address of sites they plan on buying from.
“Domains that end in .net or .org are rarely used for online shopping so you may want to treat them with a healthy dose of skepticism…
Think about whether what you are being offered is too good to be true. If prices are suspiciously low and you are being pressured by a countdown timer that should raise alarm bells.”
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