How to spot an online shopping scam

It can be difficult to spot a fake, fraudulent or scam website, as fraudsters can be very adept at mimicing official sites by copying their branding. 

However, there are often some telltale signs of a scam site. Here, we've pulled together some straightforward checks you can follow to help you work out whether an online retailer is legitimate or not, before you part ways with your money.

Is the offer too good to be true?

When you see very low prices or ridiculous discounts online, you should be a little suspicious. If prices seem too good to be true, they probably are. 

Scam websites use extremely low prices to lure bargain-hungry shoppers to quickly sell fake, counterfeit or even non-existent items. 

You can use our tips for spotting a scam to help you identify if something is actually a good deal or simply a con.

Outsmart the scammers – our free scam alert service can help you spot and avoid the latest scams

Browse the website before buying

Take a couple of minutes to look over the website. Visit the homepage and ‘about us’ pages in particular, and read the text there.

Watch out for poor English, such as spelling and grammar mistakes, or phrases that don’t sound quite right to you. You should also check whether the website lists any contact information. Reputable and legitimate companies will always list ways to get in touch with them; if the website doesn’t have a ‘contact us’ page, it could well be fraudulent. 

These aspects could mean the site you're looking at isn’t genuine and was put together by someone looking to make a quick profit, and if none of this information is available, you should treat the website as highly suspicious.

Don't always trust social media adverts

We've seen cases of scammers pretending to be genuine advertisers on social media sites. 

Scammers can create social media accounts and pay to have their message advertised to you on your timeline. The ads are designed to exploit the credibility of social media advertising, so stay vigilant when you see new companies, organisations or brands pop up on your feed. It's also worthwhile to check if the website or social media page has a refund or returns policy, and that the policies sound fair.

You should be suspicious if you see a new social media account advertising for a company you know well, as it may be a scammer pretending to be a new branch or new account for that brand.

Four quick tips to spot a social media scam

1. Is it the real deal? Scammers will often pretend to be from legitimate and trustworthy sources, offering an enticing incentive to click through to a ‘too good to be true’ deal. 
2. Check the URL: Closely inspect any URLs you aren’t sure about. If you’re redirected to a login page after clicking a link in a post, ensure the URL matches the site you're trying to visit. 
3. Check your timeline: Are you seeing an unusually high volume of the same post being shared? If so, it may be a scam. 
4. Check the branding: Check the post for branding inconsistencies. Are they using the right logo? Is this the standard of design and presentation what you'd usually expect from the brand?

Read our full guide to spot a social media scam for more tips

Scam adverts on search engines

Even if adverts appear in your search results, it doesn’t mean legitimate companies are behind them. Anyone can pay to advertise products and services on search engine results.

When you use a search engine like Google or Bing, it will suggest a list of websites relevant to what you’ve searched for. Some results in the list will be paid for adverts, and it can be tricky to spot the difference between genuine search results and paid-for adverts.

If you’re using Google, the ads usually appear at the very top of the search results list and are labelled with ‘Ad.’ You might also see ‘shopping’ results, which show products being offered by retailers at competitive prices. These are also paid for advertising. 

Never pay by bank transfer

If you're asked to pay for something online via a bank transfer, you should think twice about making the purchase.  

Should you end up buying something that turns out to be fake or non-existent with a credit or debit card, you have some rights to get your money back. But if you pay by bank transfer, it can be tougher do to get your cash back