Shoppers are increasingly heading to the Internet to look for deals.
According to
a survey from Burst Media, 85.3 percent of respondents
will shop online this holiday season. Some
industry experts predict that retailers will make deep price cuts
to lure shoppers. Unfortunately, not
all Web sites promising rock bottom discounts are
legitimate.
BBB advises consumers keep an eye out for five red flags of unscrupulous sites when shopping online:
- The prices are too good to be true.
Everyone is looking for a bargain and scammers use
tantalizingly low prices to lure their victims. If the prices for items
are well below those of trusted competitors, it’s a sign to walk away.
- Spelling and grammatical errors abound. Some phony online stores are created by scammers overseas. As a result,
many ripoff Web sites and spam e-mails are filled with grammatical mistakes and spelling errors.
- Payments via wire transfer only.
Scammers often ask victims to wire payment through Western Union or
MoneyGram because the money cannot be easily tracked or retrieved in
the case of fraud. BBB recommends always using a credit card to pay online. If the Web site turns out to be fraudulent, you can
dispute the charge with your credit card company and hopefully get your
money back.
- The business has a bad BBB rating. Always check a company's BBB Reliability Report™ and rating. Having no report doesn’t necessarily mean the business is
a fraud, but it may indicate the business is relatively new and has yet to develop a track record with consumers.
- The Web site fraudulently uses security seals. Scam Web sites often fraudulently use online trust seals (such as BBB, VeriSign, IQNet or TRUSTe) or falsely
claim to be accredited by BBB. When shopping online, look
for these icons and then confirm that the business’s
use of the seal is legitimate. Clicking on the seal will open a confirmation page on the certifying
organization’s site. If that doesn't happen or the Web page address doesn't match the trust seal certifier's, go to the certifying organization's Web site and check its list of legitimate seal
holders.
When shopping on the Internet or in the community, look for the BBB
Accredited Business seal and confirm the company is a BBB Accredited Business at www.bbb.org.