Back in the early days of online shopping, many folks were nervous about using their card details online. Nowadays, it feels as safe as anything. But there are other online shopping pitfalls we all should absolutely be aware of.
As antivirus and online security company Avast has explained to us, we are now in the era of increased prevalence of online scams. Plenty of them are found in the sphere of online shopping, for one simple reason. We’re all now ready to put our payment details into retailers. And those details are near the top of scammers’ wish lists.
Let’s take a closer look at how they operate, as well as some other key online scams.
Fake online shops
A top possibility to look out for is the fake online shop. Avast has reported an increase in this kind of scam since Q4 2024 as part of its Threat Research reports.
They are entirely fake retail websites, ones that mimic legitimate retailers or just come up with a convincing looking fresh shop. Avast has noted a swell of their numbers during peak shopping periods — Christmas an obvious focal point for scammers.
These imposter shops can often appear on messaging and social platforms, where fake shops may not always stand out against the many legitimate shopping adverts and shared links. One top tip to avoid ending up feeding your financial details to one of these imposter sites is to have a close look at the actual URL, the web address of the shop.
They may often be designed to look like a real retailer, but with extra parts appended to the real name or URL. A hot deal, or 10, will often be used as a lure too. Most of us have heard the classic advice that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
It’s sensible to keep an eye out for grammatical and spelling errors, although these are less common than they once were in fake e-shops. Avast’s Premium Security software can also alert you when it detects signs a website may be fraudulent.
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Imposter tech support
These shops are far from the only potential you should be aware of when going about your business online. There are also tech support scams, which Avast has identified as a growing scam category.
You may, for example, be redirected to a site made to impersonate a popular messaging platform. This can then be used to make it appear as though your browser is infected, or that there’s a technical problem. Scammers may try to redirect the person to a support phone number or a chat agent pretending to be a tech support worker who will ask for payment.
To avoid getting snared in these sorts of trap, think twice about paying attention to pop-ups that have an aggressive and urgent air. Check URLs for fakeries and remember no real tech support team is going to ask for payments in gift cards, crypto or wire transfers.
That same advice counts for scams based around SMS messages and emails. Some of the most common of these will claim to come from courier companies or institutions like HMRC, claiming you owe them money or requesting personal details in order to complete a delivery.
One way to get ahead when trying to avoid these kinds of scams is to use Avast’s security software. There’s even a free version, although Avast’s Premium Security suite helps alert you to unsafe websites, and can help to identify suspicious emails and scam SMS messages. It costs just ££19.50 for one device for the first year, while for £26.99 for one device* for the first year you can get Avast Ultimate instead, which adds SecureLine VPN and AntiTrack for enhanced online privacy.
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The post Fake Messages, Fake Shops and Social Media Scams: What to Watch Out For, According to Avast appeared first on Trusted Reviews.