Shoppers beware: online scams increase ahead of Black Friday and Christmas

byblognet -
0
Purchase fraud, when you are deceived into paying for an item or service that doesn’t exist, is the largest driver of scam cases according to new TSB data.

TSB compared its customer data from January to October 2023 with the same period last year and discovered an increase in cases. 

Read on to discover how to avoid and report purchase scams.

What is purchase fraud?

Also known as online shopping scams, the banking industry's trade body UK Finance revealed there were 77,000 cases of this type of scam in the first six months of 2023 - more than 400 a day. 

Purchase fraud sees criminals create fake social media listings and websites which advertise products and services - typically at super low prices - to lure you in.

Once a purchase is made, the fraudster makes off with your money or data and you don’t receive the product or the service you paid for.

Scammers exploit online marketplaces

TSB data also found that average losses were more than £500 per case, with social media platforms fueling these scams.

According to TSB, Facebook Marketplace was the biggest driver of purchase fraud with 77% of cases beginning on the platform. Instagram scams accounted for 9%, Twitter 4%, Snapchat 3.5% and eBay 2%.  

The three most scammed categories* by volume and losses were recorded as:

Read more:

Avoiding purchase fraud

Some additional steps you can take to avoid falling for fake products or services are:

  • Avoiding super low, too good to be true prices.
  • Browsing the website to check for scam signs, such as poor spelling, blurred images and no contact information.
  • Being wary of social media adverts.
  • Never paying via bank transfer as it’ll be harder to be reimbursed if you are scammed.

    • Reporting purchase fraud

    You can report scam Facebook pages, profiles and posts by selecting the three dots on the right and pressing ‘report’.

    *According to TSB customer data comparing Jan - Oct 2022 to Jan - Oct 2023



    source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/shoppers-beware-online-scams-increase-ahead-of-black-friday-and-christmas-ahsiU1f0ZmtH
    Post a Comment (0)
    Previous Post Next Post