Shop For Deals, Not Scams Watch Out For Online Purchase Scams This Prime Day

Shop For Deals, Not Scams

Watch Out For Online Purchase Scams This Prime Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vancouver, BC - July 11, 2022

Similar to Black Friday or Boxing Day, Amazon Prime Day has become another much-anticipated sales event in Canada. This year, Amazon (a BBB Accredited Business) has announced July 12 and July 13 as 2022 Amazon Prime Day. 

“With the anticipated flood of emails from various retailers sharing their own sales to compete with Prime Day, it is an easy time for scammers to sneak in a phishing scam by posing as Amazon or one of the many other leading retailers,” explains Simone Lis, President and CEO of BBB Serving Mainland BC. “Reports to our BBB Scam Tracker indicate that phishing scams increase during busy shopping periods, such as Prime Day. Overall, nearly ? of scams reported to us last year by Canadians were about online purchase scams.”

One young BC victim shared his experience with BBB, stating, “It all started when I read an ad on Instagram claiming that you can receive an iPhone from Amazon for an unbelievably low price. So I clicked the link, and it directed me to a website that asked for my personal information, home address and bank [information]. Then I was redirected to a different site. Soon an email came from that site name, claiming I subscribed to their membership service, which I never did. I ended up with a 50 dollars charge on my credit card.” 

Given that Amazon is a commonly impersonated organization, consumers should be on the lookout for ads impersonating Prime deals and unsolicited emails, texts, or phone calls. The BBB urges shoppers to be on the look out for phishing scams, misleading advertisements, and look-a-like websites meant to mislead them this Prime Day.

Scams to watch for: 

• Beware of false advertising and phony websites. Advertisements may target you with what appears to be Prime deals from Amazon, but are in fact fake sites. When searching online or browsing social media, watch out for ads that redirect you to scam websites. 
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• Watch for unsolicited messages. They may claim you have a free gift waiting for you or that there is a problem with a delivery, and all you need to do is click the link and fill out your personal information. 
• In another phishing scam, a caller claims to be from Amazon attempting to fix an issue with your account. This ruse is meant to get your credit card information, account login details, or remote access to your computer.
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• Brushing Scams. Brushing is a scam in which third-party Amazon vendors send consumers products they never actually ordered. While this may seem an odd scam at first, it is all to do with exploiting Amazon's search ranking system. The algorithm favours items with high sales volumes and good reviews.
• The companies, usually foreign, third-party sellers that are sending the items are simply using your address that they discovered online. 
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• Their intention is to make it appear as though you wrote a glowing online review of their merchandise, and that you are a verified buyer of that merchandise.
• They then post a fake, positive review to improve their products’ ratings, which means more sales for them.
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• Especially, when shoppers make a lot of purchases, it can be easy to lose track of what exactly they bought and where they shopped. Making it easier to lose money on scams, where ultimately the items are never delivered.

Tips on how to avoid a scam when shopping for deals on Prime Day:

• Scammers often create lookalike websites that, at first glance, appear to belong to a trusted retailer. However, when you look more closely at the URL, you notice that the domain name is slightly different 
• (i.e., instead of pay.amazon.com, the URL might be https://123.456.789.123/amazon.com/). 
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• Make sure the website has “https” in the URL (the extra s is for “secure”) and a small lock icon on the address bar. 
• Check the URL, watch for bad grammar, research the age of the domain, search for contact information, and read online reviews. 
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• Scamadviser.com can often tell you how long a website has been in operation. 
• Also note, professional photos do not mean it is a real offer. Scammers often steal photos from other websites, so don’t be quick to believe what you see, especially if you are on an unfamiliar website.
• Verify customer reviews. Does a product or price seem too good to be true? Be careful. Scammers frequently post positive reviews on their websites, either copied from legitimate sites or created by scammers. Check a trusted source for reviews such as BBB.org, where customer reviews are vetted before they are posted.
• Avoid making quick purchases while browsing social media. Scammers advertise great deals or hard-to-find products, but victims will never receive anything or sometimes receive counterfeit products instead.
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• Be careful when purchasing sought-after products. If something is sold out everywhere, be wary if you stumble into a seemingly great deal. Scammers often trick shoppers by offering the most popular products at low prices. Here is one example involving game consoles.
• Pay with a credit card. Be very wary of any retailer that asks you to pay by digital wallet apps, prepaid money cards, or other non-traditional payment methods.

Considerations as you prepare for Amazon Prime Day:

• Set a reasonable budget and make a list of the items you want to purchase. Take advantage of early deals and consider buying Amazon’s own products and services (big discounts) to help you save money. 
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• Shop around. Just because an item is on sale, doesn’t mean it’s the best item for the best price. Take some time to do your due diligence.
• Understand online retail return policies. Understand the seller’s return policy and read it through before clicking "buy." Find out if they accept returns or exchanges, and who pays the shipping when an item is returned. Keep a record of what you ordered. 
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• Get the details on a product’s warranty. Most electronics and home appliances come with warranties that are to be fulfilled with the manufacturer, not the retailer. Find out how returns and repairs are handled if an item stops working or needs replacement parts. 

What to do if you encounter a scam:

• Report online shopping fraud to the right place: 
• Better Business Bureau - file a complaint at BBB.org or report a scam at BBB.org/scamtracker. 
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• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre - file a report at antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or call 1-888-495-8501. 
• Report fraudulent ads, or ads that violate standards, copyright or other policies to the correct source, such as Amazon.
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• Your credit card company - Call the phone number on the back of the credit card to report the fraud and request your money back. 

For more information and tips, visit BBB’s online shopping resources.

About BBB:

The Better Business Bureau has empowered people to find businesses, brands and charities they can trust for over 110 years. In 2021, people turned to BBB more than 200 million times for BBB Business Profiles on 6.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on 25,000 charities, free at BBB.org. Local, independent BBBs can be found across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including BBB Serving Mainland British Columbia, which was founded in 1939 and serves Mainland BC and the Yukon territory.