Black Friday is just weeks away, and Scamwatch is warning shoppers to stay alert to fake online stores. According to its data, buying and selling scams made up 58.7% of all scam reports involving a financial loss in the year to 30th September. In that time, 11,537 Australians reported losing a combined $17.2 million.
The good news is that a handful of quick checks can tell you a lot about a store before you reach the checkout and enter your information. First, it helps to know what type of store you’re looking at.
Scam sites, ghost stores, and copycats
Scam sites exist to take your money and personal information and send nothing in return. Many look more legitimate than ever due to AI tools that can produce believable content. The National Anti-Scam Centre has taken down just over 20,000 scam websites so far this year, many of them posing as online storefronts.
Ghost stores are a different category. They pose as a local boutique, often with an Australian suburb or city in the name and a heartfelt story of a scrappy small business. The truth is that they are often based overseas and dropship cheap, mass-produced goods at inflated prices.
Copycat sites impersonate a retailer you already know. Scamwatch says scammers pair copied business names and logos with AI-built websites that aim to pass as legitimate. The store may be real, but the website is not.
How to spot fake online stores before you pay
Scamwatch says AI is making shopping scams cheaper, faster, and more convincing, so a polished website doesn’t mean a store is legitimate. Here are a few checks to go through if you’re suspicious.
- Check how you got there. Ghost stores rely on paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. If an ad led you to a storefront you’ve never heard of, it’s worth searching for the business and seeing what comes up.
- Question the narrative. An emotional closing-down tale or time-pressure sales tactics are standard on ghost stores. Scamwatch’s advice is to treat sale countdowns and pressure to pay as reasons to be suspicious.
- Read the web address. An Australian place name on a .com address rather than .com.au is one of the warning signs the ACCC lists, though it’s becoming more common.
- Find the contact details and return policy. Be wary if there’s no local presence. If returns go overseas, or if the terms refer to another country’s laws, it’s a red flag.
- Read off-site reviews. Independent user review sites like Trustpilot, Google Reviews, and ProductReview can help you determine if a website is legitimate.
- Search the photos. Reverse image search can be handy to see if the same item shows up on other websites. If it shows up in another storefront, you may be dealing with a ghost store or dropshipper.
- Look up the ABN. Scamwatch has reports of fake websites displaying Australian business information, so the presence of an ABN doesn’t automatically mean the store is real. Search the business on ABN Lookup and make sure the details match. A missing ABN is extremely suspicious.
- Pay with protection. If you’re confident enough to try a purchase, using a credit card or PayPal gives you an avenue to contest or reverse the charge if needed.
What Norton or TrendLife can catch for you
These manual checks take time and effort, but security software can help to filter out scam websites automatically.
Norton’s Scam Protection is included in every Norton 360 plan, and its Safe Web feature uses AI to analyse websites for scam indicators, warning you about fake online stores and phishing pages. On mobile, Safe SMS picks up scam texts and fake delivery notifications, which is handy when you’ve got real parcels on the way.
TrendLife’s ScamCheck app detects AI scams, filters spam and scam texts, and blocks unsafe websites. It’s available with a 30-day free trial or included in select TrendLife security plans. The company’s own data shows shopping scams made up over 51% of active scam URLs across Australia and New Zealand in April of this year.
Security software is built to catch scam and phishing websites, but determining whether an online store really is a Melbourne boutique or an overseas warehouse is still up to you.
If you’ve already been scammed
Contact your bank or card provider right away and ask whether the payment can be stopped or reversed. If you created an account on the website and reused a password, change it everywhere else you use it and turn on multi-factor authentication.
Then, report the store to Scamwatch and to the platform where you found it. If you’re worried about your identity being misused, IDCARE can help.
Getting caught out doesn’t mean you’ve been careless, given how convincing fake storefronts have become. A quick check before making a purchase on any suspicious websites can help keep you safe while bargain hunting.
Have you ever fallen victim to an online shopping scam? Let us know what happened in the comments.
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