How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams: A Practical Guide

Introduction

Online shopping scams are not new, but they continue to evolve. Each year, especially around major sales events like Memorial Day, summer clearance sales, and the holiday season, scammers ramp up their efforts. The Federal Trade Commission reported a noticeable increase in online shopping fraud in 2025, and that trend appears to be continuing. For the average shopper, the difference between a legitimate deal and a trap can be a single click. This guide covers the most common scam tactics right now and lays out what you can do to protect your money and personal information.

What Happened

Recent reports from outlets such as the South Bend Tribune and AOL have highlighted a surge in shopping scams tied to holiday weekends and seasonal promotions. One common scenario involves fake websites that closely mimic major retailers. Another involves phishing emails that appear to come from trusted brands, offering “exclusive” discounts that lead to fraudulent checkout pages. Social media ads are also a frequent vector: scammers pay for promoted posts that direct users to lookalike stores selling counterfeit goods or taking payments without delivering anything.

The patterns are not new, but the execution is becoming harder to distinguish from the real thing. Scammers now use stolen logos, convincing domain names (like “amaz0n-deals.com” instead of “amazon.com”), and professional-looking templates. According to a recent article in the South Bend Tribune, a particularly widespread scam during the Memorial Day period involved fake travel and hotel booking sites that collected credit card details for reservations that never existed.

Why It Matters

For the average consumer, falling for a shopping scam can mean losing the cost of the item, having a credit card number stolen, or exposing personal data that leads to identity theft. Unlike a regrettable purchase from a real store, you have little recourse if the seller is a ghost. Once the money is sent—especially via wire transfer, gift card, or cryptocurrency—it is extremely difficult to recover.

Beyond the financial hit, there is a time cost: you will need to cancel cards, dispute charges with your bank, monitor your credit report, and possibly file a police report or complaint with the FTC. And if you reused a password on that fake site, your other accounts could be at risk. The emotional frustration is real, but the practical steps you take before and after a scam can limit the damage.

What Readers Can Do

Below are concrete red flags to watch for and a checklist of safer shopping habits. These apply whether you are browsing on your phone, laptop, or tablet.

Red Flags

  • Unusual URLs. Scammers often use domain names that are slight misspellings of a real store (e.g., “walmrt.com” or “bestbuy-discounts.net”). Hover over any link before clicking, and check the address bar carefully before entering payment details. If you see a string of random characters or a country-code TLD like .xyz or .top, be suspicious.
  • Poor grammar and odd phrasing. Legitimate retailers invest in their copy. If the product description, checkout page, or confirmation email has obvious typos, awkward sentences, or mismatched fonts, that is a warning sign.
  • Payment methods that scream “no recovery.” A seller who insists on gift cards, wire transfers (Western Union, MoneyGram), or cryptocurrency is almost certainly a scammer. Credit cards and PayPal offer chargeback protections; these other methods do not.
  • Prices that are unrealistically low. Yes, clearance sales happen, but a $500 laptop for $50 is either a scam or a stolen item. If the deal is too good to be true, it usually is.
  • Urgency and pressure. “Only 2 left!” and “Sale ends in 5 minutes!” are common sales tactics, but scammers weaponize them to make you skip the usual vetting. Take a breath and verify the site before buying.
  • Missing contact information or fake reviews. A legitimate store will have a physical address, a working phone number or email, and a return policy. If you cannot find those, or if all the reviews are glowing five-star comments posted on the same day, move on.

Safe Shopping Habits

  1. Stick to known retailers when possible. If you want to buy from a smaller store, search for it on a site like Trustpilot or the Better Business Bureau before entering your information. Look for recent negative reviews that mention non-delivery or card fraud.
  2. Use a credit card, not a debit card. Credit cards give you stronger fraud protection under federal law (the Fair Credit Billing Act). Debit cards have less protection, and the money leaves your account immediately.
  3. Check for HTTPS and the padlock icon. This is not a guarantee of legitimacy, but it is a basic minimum. If the site does not have “https://” at the start of the URL, do not enter any payment or personal information.
  4. Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi for anything involving payment. Use your phone’s cellular data or a VPN if you must shop outside your home.
  5. Keep your browser and devices updated. Security patches often fix vulnerabilities that scammers exploit.
  6. Enable two-factor authentication on your email and payment accounts. This adds a second layer of protection if your password is compromised.

What to Do If You Think You Have Been Scammed

Act quickly. First, contact your bank or credit card issuer to report the fraudulent charge and request a stop payment or chargeback. Second, change the passwords on any accounts that use the same credentials you entered on the scam site. Third, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you supplied a gift card number, call the card issuer immediately—some companies can freeze the funds if you act fast enough. Finally, monitor your credit reports (you can get free weekly reports from AnnualCreditReport.com) and set up a fraud alert if you suspect identity theft.

Sources

This article draws on reporting from the South Bend Tribune (including their July 2026 piece on shopping scams and a May 2026 story on Memorial Day fraud), as well as consumer advisories from the Federal Trade Commission and AOL’s coverage on the same topic. Exact statistics from the FTC for 2025 were referenced in multiple news outlets, though the agency’s annual Data Book is released later in the year. For the latest scam alerts, you can check the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network at consumer.ftc.gov.