If you're finding store prices too high these days, you may be tempted to click on a social media ad offering a great discount. But here's a warning before you do: the Better Business Bureau says social media platforms are packed with fraudulent posts targeting holiday shoppers.
In a recent BBB study, 40% of online shopping fraud reports originated as ads found on Facebook and Instagram.
Popular shoes at deep discount
Alejandra Matos is the latest victim. She loves HeyDude shoes, so while scrolling through social media, she thought she had struck gold.
"It was on TikTok," she said. "It was an ad showing a genuine logo as if it was a HeyDude page."
It resembled the official HeyDude website, but the clearance deals were incredible.
"They were offering 20 pairs of HeyDude shoes for $50, or 10 pairs of HeyDudes for $35," she said.
"I was like I'm not going to miss that," Matos added.
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She even received a shipping confirmation. But weeks later, no shoes. She took a closer look at the company's webpage and realized it was not the official HeyDude site.
"A lot of it was misspelled, incorrect spacing, wrong capitalization," she said.
Warning signs of an online scam
Those errors are the first signs of a fake or copycat website, according to Melanie McGovern with the Better Business Bureau.
"If one price is $39.99 with a dollar sign, but then another price has a different money sign from a different country... those are definite telltale flags," she said.
She says to always check the URL before you click and make a purchase. A fake may look legitimate but might incorporate extra words, letters, or numbers or use "dot-net" in its domain instead of "dot-com."
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Another place to find clues, McGovern said, is the contact page.
"If there's no phone number, no brick-and-mortar location, if it's just a form, that could be a red flag that they don't have any customer service," she said.
Matos, now out $90, also wants to warn others.
"I guess I acted too quickly in placing the order," she said.
So check out any social media ad carefully to make sure it links to the real site, so you don't waste your money.
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