Instagram has the CUTEST stuff, does it not? It always seems to know what you’ve been eyeing for the next splurge, what item of clothing you plan to buy, what kitchen gadget you must have. Uncanny (assuming you don’t know your device is listening and your search history is ratting you out).
Imagine this. You’re watching cat videos, and next thing you know, that absolutely perfect item pops up in a well-timed ad. You’ve seen it 8-10 times already and resisted the temptation… but now the price is right! “Shop Now” appears in a banner across the bottom and takes you to a very legit website. You add it to your cart, enter your email for another 10% off, and away you go. You’re punching in those credit card numbers and before you know it, you’ve got a confirmation email that your item will be delivered in 14-21 days via DHL International shipping… and you wait. And you wait… When you attempt to contact the company, they assure you it’s in route… but the product never arrives, and it’s way too late to contest that charge. You’re out the money, and you’re never getting that item.
Websites are so easy to make. Products are being ripped off and reproduced at alarming rates, and even more scammers use these trending items to scam people into thinking they’re buying a product, when they’re actually getting nothing. One such product that was making rounds on my feed was a particular piece of garden art. It wasn’t anything I was into, which maybe is why I avoided the trap, but man, that thing was all over my feed. Maybe you’ve seen it.
It’s a 3-D fairy holding out a dandelion puff, whose seeds are flying out into the wind. It spins around on a post. Super cute, just not my style, but I saw it relentlessly. I don’t recall how I found out, but that very piece of art was actually created by an artist and costs a pretty penny, way more expensive than what was being advertised on this website and many others. Not only is he having his art copied and stolen, it’s ruining his reputation, and forcing him to engage in a battle against fraudsters who far outnumber him… And the online merchants, like Amazon, are doing nothing to help protect his work. You can read his story here.
So what are my Red Flags for fraudulent merchants?
- Where is the product being advertised? If it’s a social media ad, that’s my first inkling to hop off the socials, and get onto an official website. I’ll google the item or the brand to see what results I get, and go from there.
- What’s the quality of the imagery? When you see the same imagery on multiple sites, and often the quality of the image isn’t great. Almost like it was downloaded and uploaded, losing the high-resolution of professional photography.
- Does the website look legit? This piece was being advertised on websites that had very similar bones, but the content changed. Like they cloned a website and just changed the color and branding.
- Is there contact information at the bottom of the website? It’s often buried or non-existent. There’s no telephone number, and if there is, it’s a WhatsApp one. These websites like to stick to email communication.
- If there’s an “about us” section, open it up and look for clues. I’ve seen sites that say “we’re an American company from Wisconsin” but any additional research yields no results, and when you read on, the grammar and punctuation suggests otherwise.
- Do a Google Reverse Image Search. This is such an underappreciated tool. Got a message from a weird dude? Pop his profile pic in the image search. Trying to find an artist, use image search. If the image came off the web, it’ll find it and direct you to not only the origin, but all the other sites it’s been posted that are public and visible.
- Google the product for reviews. Halara is one merchant ALWAYS advertising to me. They have women’s sports clothes – yoga pants, skirts with pockets, etc. Evidently, they also steal designs (Temu and AliExpress are two other big ones). When you pop these names into google, look for reviews that cannot be manipulated. My favorite? Reddit. TrustPilot and the brand’s own website can all be scrubbed, but Reddit is forever! 9 times out of 10, this review search will give me what I’m looking for and protect me from an illegitimate purchase.