UNDATED, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Officials with the Better Business Bureau of West Michigan have released a new study that shows online purchase scams have spiked since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Tuesday, Troy Baker with the BBB spoke with WKZO to discuss some of the findings in the study.
“Not surprisingly, they have increased quite a bit,” Baker told WKZO. “If you look at the number of scams reported to us back in 2015, of all the scams that lost money, 13 percent were online purchase scams. This year so far, all the scams reported that have lost money, 64 of those were online purchase scams. So well more than half the scams have been online.”
Baker says a shopping scam can occur when, after a purchase is made, the product never arrives, the product is not as advertised, or shipments take months to arrive, which is troublesome for the holiday shopping season.
One finding in the latest study shows that website links through social media are a large part of where the scams occur.
“It’s people scrolling through Facebook and Instagram and seeing these items they think would be interesting,” Baker said.
However, one red flag is when a single product is advertised by multiple websites.
“It’s not one site advertising, and what we’re finding is that websites that really aren’t going to deliver the way you expect are putting advertisements out there and paid advertisement,” Baker said. “People see it, and think it’s a paid ad and it will be good, when in reality, more and more of these are problematic.”
Because of this, Baker says all consumers should research a website before making a purchase from it, especially if the website isn’t well-known.
“It really does come down to whether you do your research or not,” Baker said. “The majority of people that take a step back and look at the website and look up where they’re buying from will not lose money. If you don’t do that research ahead of time, you are much more likely [to lose money].”
Baker says consumers should check the history of the website and any relevant reviews, including reviews through the BBB website.
“If you can’t find information about that site, it hasn’t been around very long, it’s probably not the best place to go,” Baker said. “You can probably find what you’re looking for someplace else. If you can buy from a place you already had a good experience with, that would be the best way to do it.”
Consumers can view the new scam report on the BBB website at this link.
