Scammers are targeting online shoppers during the festive season, especially with Christmas shopping and Boxing Day sales.
Criminals create fake websites to look like well-known brands. They pretend to sell products at unusually low prices and may write fake reviews to make the website look legitimate.
The National Anti-Scam Centre has removed or limited access to thousands of investment, phishing, and online shopping scam websites this year. About 50 per cent of fake or malicious websites taken down in the last 3 months have been running online shopping scams.
How to spot the scam
Products are for sale at unusually low prices compared to other websites.
Reviews are only positive and don’t have a lot of detail.
The website doesn’t have any terms and conditions, ABN or privacy policy.
You are told to pay in an unusual way. This could be by money order, pre-loaded card or a request to pay multiple PayIDs or accounts.
How the scam works
Scammers set up fake profiles and fake websites that imitate real brands. These websites may have URLs and page designs that look the same as real shopping websites.
You make a purchase thinking you’ve bought from a legitimate store or brand but instead you’ve entered personal and financial details into a scam website.
You lose your money but no goods are delivered. Your personal and financial details are now compromised.
What you should know
There are simple steps you can take to help avoid online shopping scams:
- Do some research on the seller before clicking straight to the website.
- Compare prices with other websites.
- Search for independent reviews on other websites.
Keep the operating system and apps on your device or computer up to date.
Stay protected
STOP – Scammers often pretend to be businesses that you know and trust. Stop and confirm you are buying from a real online store and not a fake website. Be wary of social media stores that are new and selling products at very low prices. Scammers also post fake ads and fake reviews.
CHECK – Search for the official website of the company. Don’t assume the first search result is the real website. Check that the website you want to buy from has information about privacy, terms and conditions of use, dispute resolution and contact details, plus a secure payment service like PayPal or credit card.
PROTECT – Act quickly if something feels wrong. Reporting suspicious websites to Scamwatch quickly will allow us to take swift action to take down fake websites and protect other shoppers against financial harm.
If you’ve been affected
Don’t be embarrassed about unintentionally shopping on a scam website. It can happen to anybody.
If you have given your personal information call IDCARE on 1800 595 160.
When you report the scam, the people who read your report understand how you are feeling. You are not alone. Contacting support services can help you understand what happened but also tells authorities about scam activities so they can work on making it harder for scams to succeed.
Help others by reporting scams to Scamwatch.
Who is the National Anti-Scam Centre?
The National Anti-Scam Centre is where government and industry work together to protect Australians. We’re harnessing shared resources and smarter analytics to identify blind spots, strengthen weak links and use data to react faster, stopping scams before they happen.
Our aim is to make Australia a harder target for scammers.
For more information about how to avoid or report a scam, visit the Scamwatch website.