We advise caution against Black Friday fake offers
Not only reputable providers attract customers with low prices and discounts, fake shops also advertise Black Friday offers. Fake shops advertise incredible offers around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With many fake shops you don't even have to wait for Black Friday - many products are already being offered at a significant discount. We'll show you how not to fall into the trap of bargain hunting!
Black Friday / Black Friday Fake: Check first, then strike
We advise you to check unknown online shops carefully before placing an order. Don't let advertisements like "Only 1 piece available" or "Limited quantities" stress you out. Online retailers and fake shops try to persuade you to make a hasty purchase with such advertisements. Take your time and check online stores carefully. You can use the following steps to assess the seriousness of an online shop.
Research purchasing experiences on the Internet
A quick and very easy method is to search for the online shop on the Internet and read reviews. To do this, type the internet address of the shop and “experiences” or “fake” into your search engine. In this case, you will already receive numerous warnings not to shop there.
Tip: If there are no relevant search results for the shop, you should also be careful. You may be one of the first victims. Keep checking!
Compare prices
Comparing prices is worth it – and not just to expose possible fake shops. Use price comparison platforms such as geizhals.at or ideolo.at and find out the current price for the desired product. If the shop is significantly cheaper, you are most likely falling into a trap. Also remember that branded clothing or branded accessories are never sold at ridiculous prices!
Tip: Price hits are likely around Black Friday and Cyber Monday and fake offers may therefore be more difficult to identify. Nevertheless, prices that are far below market value are unlikely, even on discount holidays!
Be critical about payment options
You should be particularly careful if an online shop only offers advance payment or if a “PayPal payment” that is supposedly available is not working for technical reasons. These are signs of a fake shop! Remember: A PayPal payment does not guarantee a secure online shop. A lot of fraudulent online shops offer PayPal - these are mostly shops from Asia that either don't deliver goods at all or deliver inferior goods.
Check imprint
Does the online shop have an imprint? If you cannot find an imprint in an online shop or if the imprint is just a contact form, you should avoid the shop. Because then it is clearly fake. Attention: Many fraudulent online shops have fake or stolen data in their imprint. However, you can check the data listed:
- The company name can be searched on the Internet or checked the commercial register (Germany) or in the WKO Firmen AZ
- The address listed can be searched on Google Maps. If this is not a realistic company headquarters, you should be careful.
- The VAT number listed can be checked the VAT information exchange system
Attention: Criminals often steal data from existing companies. Data misuse can be uncovered through extensive research on the Internet.
Building the website
Many fraudulent online shops can usually be exposed by the website structure. Bad translations such as “Shipping & Returns” and changing languages are particularly noticeable. Inappropriate Internet addresses and the ability to select a currency are also signs of fake.
Have you ordered from a fraudulent online shop?
In many cases the money is lost. However, you should try the following:
- Contact the payment service provider and describe your situation. Request a refund. There is no legal right to this, but you may be able to seek a goodwill solution.
- When paying by credit card, be careful of unjustified debits.
- If there is no refund, you should file a fraud report with the police. Here you can find out how to make a police report.
We would like to thank our content partner WatchlistInternet for this article
Related to the topic: WhatsApp warning about “Amazon Black Friday 2022
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