BUFFALO, N.Y. — As the holiday season draws closer, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning shoppers to be extra cautious when purchasing items from social media ads.
The BBB says its scam tracker has received thousands of complaints about misleading ads on Facebook and Instagram, adding that online purchase scams have spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year alone online purchase scams were the most reported complaint to the BBB Scam Tracker, and had the highest number of victims.
The BBB is telling online shoppers to look out for these common scams:
- Products that claim to support a charity
- Free trial offers
- Name-brand goods that are fake
- Red flags such as spelling and grammatical errors in the advertisements, poor-quality images, and items that are priced significantly lower than what other retailers are charging
- Engaging ads and poor customer service. This can range from beauty products to trendy clothing and even children's toys
- Apps of unknown origin
To avoid becoming a victim of a scam, the BBB is advising online shoppers to use good judgment and do an online search before purchasing an item. This involves searching the name of the website in a search engine, along with key words such as "complains," "reviews" and "scam" to see what other customers are saying about the seller.
In addition, it's also advised that customers check out a company's "about us" or "contact us" section of the website to see if it contains any contact details. The BBB says it's a red flag if customers can only contact the company through an online form.
For more information about the BBB or how to avoid scams, visit BBB.org/Holiday or BBB.org/ScamTracker.
