Fake shops often look very professionally implemented, but if you look a little closer you will notice some features that indicate a scam. Sometimes fake shops even place advertisements on various platforms, such as Facebook. For these reasons, it is particularly important to take a close look at online shops before you order for the first time, recommends our cooperation partner Watchlist Internet .
For example, pay attention to the following points:
- Payment method: Does the online shop offer you different payment methods, but as soon as you want to pay, suddenly only advance payment works? If you notice something like this in an online shop, or if all other payment methods result in error messages, be sure to stay away.
- Price: An unknown shop offers your desired product much cheaper than all competitors? Most of the time, the products from fake shops are much cheaper than those from real online shops. Therefore, compare the prices on comparison platforms such as geizhals.at. Fake shops are only so cheap because they don't ship anything!
- Reviews on the Internet: Have you googled the online shop? Search the online shop using keywords such as “fake” or “experience”. You can usually find reviews that will help you relatively quickly. If you can't find anything related to a shop, you should also be careful, as fake shops often only exist for a few days before they disappear again.
How to check reputable quality marks and certificates
In order for genuine online shops to display reputable quality marks on their websites, they must go through strict testing procedures and meet certain criteria. Fraudulent online shops therefore often try to create trust through fake or fictitious certificates and quality marks.
With reputable quality marks such as the Austrian E-Commerce Quality Mark, Trusted Shops or Trustmark Austria, you can easily check whether it is a genuine certificate by clicking on the quality mark logo. If it is not possible to click on a quality mark or if a link leads to nothing, you can search for the certified shops on the websites of the certification bodies. E.g. at www.guetezeichen.at/zertified-websites . If you don't find any indication of the authenticity of a quality mark there, you should be careful. Also make sure that you actually end up on the website of the respective certificate authorities and not just on a fake page that was also set up by the criminals.
Click on the Austrian E-Commerce Quality Mark logo and view the sample certificate:
I ordered from a fake shop, what do I do now?
First contact your bank. If you have paid in advance, there is usually no way to get the money back. The faster you contact your bank, the higher the chances of success. Also, file a police report. Here we will explain to you how to file a police report.
Advice & Help
Check online shops before you fall into the trap with the Fake Shop Detector .
Simply enter your online shop address and shop more securely. For specific advice requests, please contact the relevant offices that Watchlist Internet has listed for you Advice & Help
Source: Watchlist Internet
This might also be of interest: Fraudsters sell cheap firewood on Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp
Notes:
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