As of: March 13, 2024 10:35 a.m
When shopping online, the number of frauds involving fake sales portals – so-called fake shops – has been increasing for years. How can consumers recognize dubious online shops?
Fake shops give the impression that they are legitimate websites. The operators lure customers, for example, with particularly cheap branded items. The goods are ordered online and paid for in advance – but are usually not delivered. Many fake shops are designed so professionally that you can hardly distinguish them from real online shops. Every year, consumer advice centers receive thousands of complaints about fake shops; in Hamburg alone there were more than 2,300 reports last year.
Characteristics of fake shops
The operators of the fraudulent shops program websites that look confusingly similar to legitimate online shops and equip them with fake imprints and hotline telephone numbers. The prices are often a little cheaper than other providers. Fake shops don’t always attract people with massive price cuts. Some typical features:
Copy: In some cases, other companies’ online presences are copied one-to-one – including the latest offers. Only the address field in the Internet access program (browser) differs slightly from the real address. The victim of this scam was the retailer Notebooksbilliger.de: Fraudsters called their fake shops “Notebooksbilliger-angebote.net” and “Notebooksbilligers.de”.
seal of approval: It’s not just the design of the alleged shops that often appears professional. Clumsy wording or spelling mistakes are also becoming increasingly rare. In addition, the sites are often equipped with fake or fictitious test seals from independent institutes. These are intended to certify the shop’s seriousness.
pay: Fake shops often pretend to have a secure payment method such as credit card, Paypal or payment by invoice. But at the end of the ordering process, only the uncertain “payment in advance” option remains. Many fake shop operators actually offer the services of financial service providers such as Paypal. You don’t have to meet any requirements. Cheated consumers do not always benefit from Paypal buyer protection: the protection is limited in time and many fake shops do not respond to complaints.
Recognize fake shops
Consumers should be suspicious of unknown online shops. In many cases, a critical look at the website is enough to recognize a fake shop:
Does the name in the browser address field match the company’s offering? Or is it the minimally changed name of a well-known provider? Enter the name of the company into a search engine with additional terms such as “fake shop”, “scam” or “testimonial”. If it is a fake shop, there is a good chance that relevant notices and warning messages will be found – unless the site is brand new. You can use the consumer advice center’s fake shop finder to check whether an online shop is reputable. Simply enter the URL and display the result. You can also see how other consumers rate the shop. The “Internet Watchlist” from the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications provides a good overview. Thousands of fraudulent and otherwise problematic online shops are listed here, as well as fake streaming sites and other dubious providers. Are test seals visible on the shop page? If the seal is genuine, customers can click on the logo to go to the testing institute’s website and check the authenticity of the certificate. Does the page show icons for Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Click and check whether the shop actually has its own presence there. If not, this could be an indication of a fake shop. Call the service telephone number provided. Does the company actually report there? How do the employees react to your call? Sometimes unsuspecting private individuals also come forward. Anyone affected by this should report it to the local police so that the authorities can try to take the shop page down. The imprint of fake shops is often missing or incomplete. The addresses provided can be checked using online map services such as Google Maps or Apple Maps – as can the entry in the commercial register and the authenticity of a specified VAT ID. In some cases, the number provided exists in the commercial register – but often the number belongs to another (reputable) company. Caution is advised when it comes to offers that are supposedly limited in time. Many fake shop operators use this to try to put their potential victims under pressure. You should not blindly trust user reviews on the websites of online shops, they can be fake. Internet addresses that begin with “https” instead of “http” are also not a security feature. The abbreviation https simply means that it is an encrypted connection.
What victims of fake shops can do
Anyone who has fallen for a fake shop should first take screenshots of the fraudulent pages as evidence and then inform their bank or financial service provider immediately.
Online transfers can be reversed within a short period of time. The longer it takes for the cheated customer to contact their bank, the more difficult it becomes. The receiving credit institution must then also agree to the reversal. There is a deadline of eight weeks for direct debit. Payments made by credit card can be easily canceled: usually all you need to do is call the provider.
Even if the amount is small, you should report it to the police. The police provide further tips in the Internet crime guide.
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Market | 02/05/2024 | 8:15 p.m