It’s almost Christmas time again, which means it’s gift time, and many of you will be looking to purchase online. The scammers are well aware of the increased activity at this time of year and crawl out from under their rocks to do their worst.
Here then are some tips to help you avoid these scams:
Tips To Avoid Online Shopping Scams
Size Matters
Scammers will employ all sorts of devious methods to make their products appear larger than they really are. I fell for this trap many years ago when I bought a music box for she who must be obeyed that played “You Are My Sunshine”. In the photos, the music box looked to be about 6″ in length x 4″ wide x 2″ high, but when it arrived, it wasn’t much larger than a matchbox. I was duly dismayed, but she who must be obeyed thought it was hilarious.
I came across another one just recently involving a lovely statue of an angel. The associated photo showed a young girl holding the statue out at arm’s length, which, due to the perspective, made the angel look like it was huge. However, when I dug down into the description, the dimensions revealed that it was only 7″ tall.
The lesson: Don’t rely on photos to judge the size of an item, locate the dimensions/measurements in the description, and if there are no dimensions listed, I would suggest giving it a miss.
AI Making Scams More Sophisticated
One of the products that’s being mercilessly pushed here is a robotic dog, and each seller is sharing the same (or very similar) video of the dog in action. In the video, the dog is amazingly realistic/lifelike, but in reality, it is a poor-quality mechanical toy dog that looks and acts nothing like the dog in the video. This scam is prevalent here and has been on the increase as Christmas nears.
The lesson is as old as the hills; if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Buy From Reputable Vendors
This might seem obvious, but there are times when something that catches your eye is only available through a vendor you know nothing about. If you cannot find the item elsewhere and are keen to buy, make sure you check out the vendor’s reputation beforehand.
Sites such as Trustpilot and ProductReview (Aus) provide a basis for judging a vendor’s reputation per medium of customer reviews, and ScamAdvisor provides an overall rating on how likely it is to be a scam.
The Lesson: Buy from online vendors you trust and, if you must buy from an unknown vendor, make sure to check out that vendor’s reputation thoroughly before proceeding.
In short, when shopping online, be cautious, don’t rush, check and double-check.
Wishing you all a very Merry and safe Christmas.
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