“Dangerous” gifts for March 8: how to clearly identify a fraudulent site

On the eve of International Women's Day, the excitement around buying gifts is growing: flower sales during this period provide about 15% of the annual revenue of the flower market. Not only resellers get profit, but also all kinds of online scammers. In order not to ruin your mood, we studied the most common types of deceivers and developed recommendations on how to avoid becoming their victim.

There are different scammers:

1. “Scammers” work with any popular gift item: flowers, candy, alcohol, perfume, bags, luxury items and household appliances. Fraudsters use variety of tricks, including social engineering technologies, to distract the attention of buyers and make them forget about caution. A striking example is last year’s story with some entrepreneurs who ordered a large batch of flowers by March 8, but received nothing.
2. "Fakes." You will receive the product, but it will not meet your expectations. Taking advantage of the holiday bustle, sellers “sell” old, stale, expired goods; in the worst case, they will bring you a low-quality fake. By the way, a lot of local LE authorities have already warned citizens about this danger using the example of the most popular item of expenditure by March 8th.
3. Malicious programs. It is most dangerous when your device is infected (for example, while ordering a bouquet from a smartphone), you can lose money and confidential information.

In order to avoid falling for tricks on the Internet, we recommend to know 7 basic tips that will allow you to save your money and avoid becoming a victim of scammers when buying gifts:

1. Rule. Learn to recognize trusted sites

Do not make online purchases with prepayment on unverified sites. In order to make sure of the honest intentions of the seller, learn to determine the level of trust of the site. A trustworthy site is:

• A site where you have already made purchases and were satisfied
• A site recommended by people you know in real life (social media pen pals are not included in this list)
• A well-known website of a large company with a registration date of more than 3 years

It makes sense to issue a “red flag” and no longer use the site if:

• The site was registered less than 2 months ago (for example, whois-service will help you find out the registration date)
• Presence of site reviews mentioning fraud
• Entering card data directly on the site (not counting “verified” sites), without redirecting to well-known payment systems

A site receives a “yellow flag” when two or more of the conditions listed below match. We check:

• There is no possibility of payment upon receipt and purchases in an offline store
• There are no reviews for the store
• Payment is made online or by transfer to a bank card
• There is no information about the company on the site (address, tax identification number). Legitimate sellers have nothing to hide and you can usually easily find details and contact information. But be careful: sometimes scammers use someone else’s TIN and company name.
• The site is presented on one page (the so-called one-page site).

2. Rule. Don't be fooled by super low prices

An unusually low price should alert you, as should the time limit for purchasing on a resource: prices on different sites may vary, but on average they correspond to a certain level. If the price of an item on the website differs significantly from this level, there is a risk of fraud or counterfeit goods.

3. Rule. Check authenticity: “Like the real thing, only better”

When purchasing items, do not hesitate to ask for information that will allow you to clearly determine authenticity. Nowadays, most products have the opportunity to check the authenticity of the product on an official resource, such as Apple or Xiaomi. When searching for a product of a certain brand, you should pay attention to the product model, as well as the accompanying photographs of the product.

4. Rule. Watch the domain: “There is an error in the sixth character”

Carefully check the address of the site you are on. Fraudsters often use similar resource names to mislead users. The domain can be replaced on the fly when moving from a search page to the resource of your choice. Check yourself: Aliexpress.com and Aliexress.com are different domains.

5. Rule. Limit expenses: “Not just a limit, but a limit!”

Set limits on your bank card that suit your spending. Many banks also offer to set limits on both money transfers and cash withdrawals. This way, you will limit the possible damage if the card is compromised.

6. Rule. Turn on SMS: “Notified means warned”

Don't save money on SMS alerts. They will allow you to recognize fraudulent activity on your account in a timely manner. If suspicious activity is detected, immediately block the card and then deal with its reasons.

7. Rule. Trust your intuition: “If in doubt, run”

As a rule, if you have doubts about the legality of a site, then most likely your intuition does not let you down. Don’t risk your money, it’s better to make a purchase on a trusted site.