44 Online Shopping Fails That Were Nothing Like The Photos

With more and more people switching to online shopping, there’s still not enough talk about the dangers lurking behind it. Turns out, online shopping is a perfect place for scams, whether it’s browsing unsafe e-commerce sites, shopping on lookalike pages, or unknowingly disclosing your bank details. So today, Bored Panda spoke with a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, Daniel Markuson.

“Criminals usually find their victims through online pop-ups, banners, or emails. They rely on advertising engines like Facebook and Google to push their banners on users. Although these companies have strong safeguards in place, some banners still slip in,” he explained.

“Alternatively, some scammers study their potential future victims and analyze their online behavior, which can be easily done if the victim is browsing the web unprotected,” Markuson added. That’s why it’s important to remember that secure websites have HTTPS in their address.

The cybersecurity expert listed six major scam scenarios you may encounter while online shopping. The first one is “your order has been canceled.” Markuson explained: “These scams can go as far as to say, ‘Sorry, we are out of stock, and your order has been canceled. To claim your refund, please click here.’ Once the victim clicks on the link, they are asked to enter the details of the credit card to which they want to receive the refund and end up with their bank account being wiped out.”

Another threat is lookalike pages. “Amazoŋ.com, eday.com, googIe.comv — most users do not spot the discrepancies in the address bar as long as the website design looks legitimate,” he warned and added that they process the payment for the items in their shopping cart and end up being robbed.

Renewing your membership for the purchases you’ve made is another common scam online buyers should be aware of. “Once you’ve finished with your purchases, scammers will send you an email claiming that your Amazon Prime subscription payment is due and the discount cannot be applied. So if you want your items to get delivered, you have to renew the subscription. Ultimately, the victim gets tricked into disclosing their bank details,” Markuson explained.

If a website requires you to download an app, you are likely getting scammed. Imagine you're about to make an online purchase. “Suddenly you're informed that the only way you can grab this ‘exclusive deal’ is to purchase through the app. In reality, you're being directed to download a fraudulent app run by hackers that has been primed to steal your payment information. Interestingly, most of these fake apps also appear in legitimate app stores, according to research by RiskIQ.

Also, watch out if an e-commerce website claims that there’s a delivery issue with your purchase. “Scammers will send bulk emails to Amazon users that claim to be from UPS, FedEx, or Amazon itself. They might read something like this: ‘We're sorry, but your p****** couldn't be shipped. Please click here to re-arrange delivery or update your method of payment.’” But as soon as you enter payment details, well, you can guess who'll be cashing in, Markuson warned.

“Another common scam involves free gift cards, winning a loaded gift card from big retailers. The terms often require you to enter a grab bag or text a random code to 7792, for example. To a bargain shopper, it's too good to pass up. In reality, your details will be collected, your device could be infected with malware, and the scam could be sent to your entire address book.”

There are a few things everyone who’s shopping online should know before making a purchase. “An address of a safe website should start with “https://.” The letter S stands for “secure,” Markuson said. “Also, look for a padlock symbol in the address bar next to the website address. It means the connection is secure and no one can read or modify the data that travels between you and the website you’re visiting,” he added.

The most common signs of an unsafe online shop or a website are the following: “The website has grammar mistakes; The design looks odd and the website structure is messy; The visuals are not high-quality; The deals are too good to be true; The website URL begins with HTTP, not HTTPS.”

The first thing you should do if you suspect you have just been scammed after paying money for an item on a scam website is to contact your bank, Markuson says. “If you made a payment with a debit or credit card, you may be able to ask your bank to help get your money back through what's called a chargeback. You can also try contacting the police if the amount of money you lost to a scam is significant,” he said.

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