GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Black Friday is known for the incredible holiday deals – and people lining up for hours to take advantage of those deals. But this year was a bit different than years-passed.
“Used to be that the two big shopping days were Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But now with COVID, that has kind of negated the big spike in shopping on those two days,” said Susan Bach of the Better Business Bureau. “More people are shopping online than ever before. They’re avoiding the crowds and the stores on Black Friday. So really, I think the the holiday shopping started weeks ago.”
As people shop online, they should pay attention to the sites they plan to purchase from. Scammers often create lookalike sites with copied photos of toys, gaming consoles, and even puppies.
“It sounds like it’s the legitimate retailer, but there’s just a couple of letters off on the URL address – so you just have to be very careful that you’re shopping at a legitimate site,” Bach told WTAQ News. “Watch for fake photos or photos that have been used elsewhere, bad grammar or spelling mistakes, those are all red flags that it’s a scam website.”
They’ll even advertise their phony sites on social media and utilize sponsored posts to draw people in. But clicking on those sites, and especially trying to buy from them, can be risky.
“Click on the social media listing or a link in an email, and you could actually be downloading malware onto your computer,” Bach said. “With PlayStation 5, a lot of people are ordering match on an Amazon web site and then actually getting something else completely different in return…The retailer will say that the item was delivered and here’s proof with the tracking number and then the claim will be denied.”
Scammers are re-using tracking numbers in an attempt to sort of work around people filing disputes about wrong deliveries.
If that happens to you, reach out to PayPal and Amazon first. Those companies are looking into these types of scams. Working with your credit card company is also a good idea.
For other tips, head to BBB.org.
Comments