With Labor Day right around the corner and the fall season fast approaching, many of us are itching to update our wardrobes right about now.
Fortunately, we all know that buying a cute new outfit doesn’t have to break the bank. There are so many online stores that offer stylish and chic clothing at super affordable price points – in fact, your Instagram feed is probably full of them.
Unfortunately, style savvy shoppers often get burned by fake pop-up ads and sites promising clothes that never arrive or quality that doesn’t exist. So how do you spot the great deals from the bad?
Cyber-security experts at Norton Lifelock reveal what to look out for.
Many e-shops really do offer legitimately great deals, however, there are also some which turn out to be too good to be true.
Here, experts at Norton Lifelock – the global leader in consumer digital safety – share helpful tips for a safe online shopping experience.
With Labor Day right around the corner and the fall season fast approaching, many of us are itching to update our wardrobes right about now.
Fortunately, we all know that buying a cute new outfit doesn’t have to break the bank. There are so many online stores that offer stylish and chic clothing at super affordable price points – in fact, your Instagram feed is probably full of them
Experts at Norton Lifelock – the global leader in consumer digital safety – reveal what to look out for to avoid getting burned by fake sites
1. Check the domain and certificate
To avoid being spoofed by what appears to be a real store, use a URL lookup tool like https://safeweb.norton.com/ to see if it’s already known to be a malicious/scammy domain
This includes the domain’s registration date. Scammers have to cycle through sites as they are detected as scams, so they usually have more recent registration dates.
2. Trust your instinct if a site ‘looks like a scam’
There are no hard and fast rules about a shop’s look and feel that can distinguish all legitimate e-shops from scam e-shops, but there are some red flags to look out for. Primarily, if a deal looks insanely too good to be true, it very possibly is.
3. The main way in which many scammers get you to visit their site is through social media ads
Unsolicited emails or texts that you did not sign up for, offering big sales are also probably not legitimate.
If you do visit a site that you saw advertised on social media, be extra vigilant, as many of them are fake e-shops.
4. Many scams trick customers through fake reviews – so don’t rely on them as the only indication of authenticity or quality
First, many sellers on websites such as Amazon will pay for reviews. Shoppers can discover this by checking if all the reviews are similar, if the reviewers have only provided feedback for the product in question, or if the reviews are overly generic.
Second, on large online retailers (Amazon in particular) a common scam is to bait and switch: a shop may accumulate many high reviews by selling a particular item (let’s say a hammer), then pivot to selling a completely different item (let’s say a t-shirt).
You can notice this scam by reading the reviews and seeing if they mention a specific product. Beware if the reviews seem disconnected from the product.
Third, smaller retailers may host their own review systems which may not be trustworthy. Therefore, it makes sense to look at reviews from multiple sources for similar products.
Many scams trick customers through fake reviews. Reviews of products alone aren’t an indication of their authenticity or quality
5. Beware of lazy websites
Though scammers may spend a lot of effort to make the front page of their e-shop, their product pages, and their payment pages look convincing, they are often profoundly lazy about other aspects of the site.
For instance, they know they will not be getting repeat customers, so if they have any account setup at all, their account setup will look flimsy and probably will feature very lax security.
Other signs of laziness are likely to appear on the About Us page, where there is likely to be boilerplate text that has nothing to do with the site.
The Contact Us page is likely to disappoint you, often featuring only a simple web-form, a gmail or other free account to send messages too.
6. Be wary of any site that pushes you towards weird payment-processing methods
If the site only accepts one such payment method, or advertises many payment methods but then only offers one payment method that works, be aware of this.
Most established websites will accept credit cars and PayPal.
The bottom line – e-shopping has become the norm; it’s convenient and can be cost-effective.
Beyond clothing, Americans are buying very big ticket items like houses and cars with a click of their mouse.
And some of the best buys you will find are out there. But be smart about it, take precautions and and think twice before hitting ‘Buy Now’ next time you’re scrolling in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.
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