Better Business Bureau Warns of Holiday Shopping Scams
ZANESVILLE, OH – The biggest time for online shopping is happening right now and the Better Business Bureau wants to make sure you don’t get scammed while trying to snag a good deal.
Judy Dollison, the President and CEO of the BBB of Central Ohio, says when new trends pop up the scammers start to up their game.
She says the biggest thing to do before you buy anything online is to do your research before you enter your payment information.
“If you’re purchasing from a retailer that you’ve never purchased from before, maybe go to BBB.org, and look at the company, look at the reviews just to see if this is a good company that you’re purchasing from.” Dollison said. “You always want to be careful with making purchases while you’re scrolling on social media and you see something you really like, it’s really tempting to just link off of that and go to the website. But scammers are really good about using online tools and social media postings and ads to link to scam websites.”
Dollison also recommends checking that you are on a brands’ official website by checking the URL in the search bar.
Scammers can send you to their website by adding a simple dot or dash somewhere within the URL.
She says there you can also double check that the “S” in https is there because that means you’re on a secure website.
“Something that we’re starting to see a little bit more of this year is kind of a doubling down on an online scam.” Dollison said. “So, you’re on a fake website, you don’t know it, you make a purchase, you put in your credit card information, and then you get a credit card decline text or email saying the purchase wasn’t able to go through because you don’t have funds in your account. You think, ‘Oh, there’s a problem with that credit card.’ and you put in a second card to get the money to go through but what it was is a scam website to begin with.”
If you or someone you know comes across a scam this Holiday shopping season, you can report it to the BBB Scam Tracker.
