One Reno woman lost just over $1,200 after seeing an ad for refurbished spas. A recent federal class action lawsuit against Facebook contends that it is complicit in fraudulent sales and fails to abide by its own policies in addressing them. Many victims and legitimate businesses believe that Facebook and Instagram should do more to prevent this widespread fraud. Fraudsters understand how Facebook targets shoppers and have developed strategies to reach those likely to be interested in buying their bogus products.
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Other online fraud reports involve sites selling non-existing pets, vehicle-shipping schemes and deceptive free trial offers.Ī large number of online shopping complaints registered at BBB and reported to BBB Scam Tracker can be traced back to Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram.īBB found it was common that people who were not actively looking for a product, but lost money in the transaction, began with Facebook or Instagram 70% of the time. This leads to complaints against legitimate businesses, as victims often do not realize they have lost their money to a scammer rather than the business the scammer was portraying.Ĭounterfeit and pirated goods, the subject of a 2019 BBB investigative study, are rampant in online shopping scams. Scammers often take product photos or a landing page from legitimate businesses, post them on Facebook and Instagram and take online orders at websites they create. After placing an order, victims report receiving nothing or receiving items that were counterfeit or inferior from what the ads promised. Most online fraud reports examined involve a response to online ads on Facebook and Instagram. Also, online shopping has more BBB “F”-rated companies than any other type of business. Complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about online purchases more than doubled in 2020 and continue to increase throughout 2021. In turn, BBB Scam Tracker reports about online shopping scams nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020, and the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust named online shopping scams as the riskiest scam of 2020, publishing special reports on this growing fraud in 20. A BBB survey found 29% of people shopped online before COVID, and this increased to 37% by the end of 2020.
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Online shopping fraud has been growing for several years, but according to BBB research, it dramatically increased during the pandemic as more people shopped online. The in-depth investigative study, Theft on a massive scale: Online shopping fraud and the role of social media, finds the pandemic, along with lax social commerce shopping platforms, has opened the door for scammers in China to steal from desperate online shoppers.
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Online purchase scams have skyrocketed during the pandemic, and social media ads play a key role in the mushrooming problem, a new Better Business Bureau study finds. RENO - A shift toward online shopping during COVID-19, global supply chain crisis, and a resurgent economy have all created a recipe for a breakneck holiday shopping season - one where online shopping fraud poses a tremendous risk to consumers.