7 Safety Tips for Online Shopping to Prevent Being Scammed (like I was)
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- I recently ordered something online. Not only did I not receive the item, but PayPal failed to assist in getting my money back. In this video I share the exact website I ordered from, as well as how you can prevent yourself from getting scammed while shopping online.
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I'm a big fan of Googling websites with the word "scam" in the search. It really brings out a lot very quickly. Good tips!
That’s exactly what I do.
Paypal does not protect anyone. I do not use them for that very reason!
Paypal burned me 2 too many times. I will not order from a seller if their only method of payment is Paypal. I do keep a credit card to alleviate these types of frustrations. Paypal makes you do the fraud work and the CC companies use all the money they are getting from high interest rates to hire people to do it for them.
Honestly the name of the website is a big red flag to me. What do coffee machines have to do with inflatables? Its such a shame about paypal. They use to provide a sense of security but I've recently been hearing several horror stories of them not doing much to protect the buyers. Thats why I dont even use a paypal account anymore I use my credit card.
So sorry you had to go through all this. Your tips on how to avoid it all are very good. However, having one credit card helps. As soon as we make a large purchase and it has posted I transfer money to the credit card from checking. This is a way to avoid a credit card balance, get the protection of the credit card, and since it has cash rewards, get a few dollars back.
I too have had headaches ordering on line during this pandemic. I guess these companies are being overwhelmed by the amount of orders they are receiving. Let's avoid scams!
Feel for you Dana. I sent a package via USPS to my dad for his 70th b-day. Package was delivered to wrong address although tracking # said it had been delivered to his.(mailman admitted to this later on) I was told by USPS I had to prove the package was stolen.😱😤Lucky for me the gas station and his neighbor had videotaped the mailman delivering to wrong address. Now here's the kick in the stomach...even though I had bought insurance it only covered shipping not stolen property. Apparently postal workers are not part of the USPS anymore and the insurance is a scam. Btw take picture of product before it is insured. One must prove it wasn't damaged before it was shipped. Much love and laughter💞😀
Can you also file a complaint with your bank and stop the payment? I have noticed TONs of stuff on amazon is for sale and it’s from China and you have to wait over a month to get a refund for that same reason... they tell you it’s been sent etc and most people will forget and never request the refund... so frustrating
I thought paypal would protect their customers. What a shame😣
This is such a bummer to hear this happened to you.
Unfortunately this is why so many people buy everything from Amazon. It's tried and true
Yeah, we’re sticking with Amazon Prime only from now on.
Amazon isn't safe seither. When you buy from a third party in amazon, it's just like buying from eBay. You only have a guarantee when the seller is amazon itself. 😉
Remember, there are middlemen working on Amazon (drop shippers) They take your money and send your order to China where your product comes from. I did this twice and received a product that did not match the photo, but Amazon refunded me.
Amazon prime member 4 + years. Never looked anywhere else.
I’m going to exclusively buy everything from amazon from now on, or purchase locally. I don’t feel safe buying stuff online when hackers could get into accounts.
Next time go though the bank. They are able to stop some stuff before it takes out of the account.
Sorry it happened to you, Dana. It’s so frustrating. My scam did not happened online- I went to Big Lots to buy a twin size mattress. I thought it’s a good discount store and I am totally safe. However, a week later I returned my mattress with my receipt. A male store worker helped me to bring the mattress inside and a young girl at the register took my receipt and pushed a few buttons on cashier machine and said to me “you are all set. Money will be back on your card.” She did not give me any paper that said I returned my item. It was a big red flag but I thought it’s a legit store, they are not scammers. I was so wrong! . I never got my money back. I even went to talk to the manager of this store later and she didn’t care at all and did not do anything to fix it. Never again!
Thank you for helping us avoid this - sorry you went through it.
Not a fan of PayPal ...just saying
I've read about the PayPal CEO - don't like him at all.
I wholeheartedly agree. They allow bogus sellers accounts. If you buy from one of these sellers who run what looks like a legitimate website, then PayPal will not refund even when you never receive the merchandise.
This is why I don’t follow Dave’s no credit card advice. I kept a couple of credit cards & pay them off every month. I had two online orders this year that I never received the item. Chase bank refunded both orders.
debit card offer the same protection
Celine M yes. However, my debit card is tied to my bank account. I prefer not to have a card tied to my bank account accessible online for possible hackers/theft.
SheenaCarver I agree - Dana and Dave are both wrong imo
ALWAYS use a CREDIT card whenever buying online or when paying contractors
I use my Discover Card. I earn points and use them on Amazon.
A win, win.
That's horrible! I hope you get your money back soon.
I have found PayPal discouragingly unhelpful in a similar situation. Good for you for persevering. I use my credit card through PayPal for an extra layer of protection.
Me too
So sorry you got scammed! I’ve never used PayPal. I usually buy my kids stuff off Amazon. Thanks for the warnings!!
Be careful with Amazon as well...I found out that they don't regulate any of the items sold, including ones labeled with "shipped and sold by Amazon". I thought that label meant that the company was verified by Amazon but the verification process is questionable at best :/ many complaints about fake/fraudulent items, including cosmetics and skincare which sometimes contain mercury or lead :(
I feel for you, I try not to distrust people, but the internet makes me trust no one. Dana I know it's hard but it can happen to any of us.
This EXACTLY happened to me, but with a Dyson vacuum not from Dyson!!! About 20% less, so not a huge difference. The ONLY thing I did differently was use a credit card to buy through PayPal. That credit card went to bat. It's an Amazon Prime card and only has a $1000 limit. I will NEVER use PayPal again, since they do not protect their consumers. Thanks for the video
I had a very similar experience. I ordered something from a website called Zeerabe. Once I place the order, I realized that it was .site instead of .com and immediately tried to cancel it, which I could not. I called the number and sent them an email the next day and the phone was disconnected and no response from the "company". I immediately contacted PayPal which said that I had to wait so many days after trying to contact the company, etc., etc. Eventually, I did get my money refunded through PayPal but what a hassle! I wonder how many people just let it go and these scammers get away with millions?!? Hang in there. Great video!
So sorry this story was painful. People just go to the store. Four hundred dollars lost is no joke. I hope your efforts pay off.
Thank you for the advise. I have noticed a lot of online shopping ads popping up in Facebook. They seem to have really good deals on name brand stuff, but the website names are really weird and like you said, it all seems too good to be true (so it probably isn't). So sorry this happened to you and thank you for sharing your story.
why didn't you go kohl's or Amazon o Walmart or target to make big purchases.
So sorry this happened to you, thanks for sharing as I'm sure it was hard for you to relive the anger and frustration. My partner argues that Paypal makes things safe but clearly this is not the case, so glad you've highlighted this - let's hope they do the right thing in the end, that's what their brand trades on! Another safety tip is to look in the website address URL (the full web address) and see if there is 'https' as the 's' signifies a secure website - of course a fraudster could always use a secure website but probably more likely not to and then it would just appear 'http'. I'm sure a more techie person could elaborate but I was always told to look out for this. I personally like the security of a credit card for a big purchase and this is the only reason I keep one - I believe for all other reasons, they are bad.
it is not that easy to GET an httpS address - that is the safety for consumers. Fraud or bad service is still possible but these are companies that at least try to be legit businesses. of course if a company goes under all bets are off.
I had almost the same thing happen with Paypal. I had erroneous recurring charges on my Paypal account and filed a claim. I was immediately denied and had no end of trouble talking to a person but was told they could not help me. There didn't seem to be any recourse with PayPal. The reason I used PayPal was for protection and instead I had months of recurring, unauthorized charges. I have since closed my account.
Same thing happened to me!! I've noticed that when you Google in my case it was shoes, adds for shoes pop up on Face Book. I had seen these shoes, looked comfy, had good reviews and I could use PayPal. I always feel safe with companies that use PayPal. The shoes never arrived, I can't contact them so I reported it to PayPal. So they looked into it and messaged me if I want to escalate the issues to go to this site etc. I thought I did what they asked and they closed it. It's so frustrating when the company still has adds on Face Book, changes it's name, and is still scamming consumers!! The company is Belisimo... something like that but uses other names, Donut Baby was another name it used. Lesson learned!! 😡😡☹
I’m sorry this happened to you. My business got wrapped up in a scam because the scammers used our business website and name in confirmation emails, and it showed up on credit card statements. So people contacted us and accused us of scamming them out of money.
This was all through the Shopify platform, so we opened a case with them but don’t know if it was ever resolved for people. Most of the things people purchased were dollhouses around the holidays that were on the scam website for super cheap.
I hope you get the money back 💕
Wow! How upsetting! I had and old email message stating someone had ordered something from my amazon account. I called the number on the E-mail someone called me back saying they where amazon trying to get into my computer and bank account. So I stated if they where amazon they should have all that info already. Than they said just wanted to verify the details of transaction. I said you tell me what you have I'll tell you if it's a match they got upset....lol Therefore, I gave no personal info so no charges where made to my credit accounts or the supposedly amazon account they had. 🤷 gotta keep your eyes extra open now a days. Sorry for what happened to you.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sorry about this happening to you.
Thanks for this good advice. My husband and I have both had to deal with online fraud; it takes a long time to resolve, but it is worth the effort. Take care.
Sorry this happened to you. It is so nice of you to share your story to help the rest of us. It is very easy to be scammed these days so don't beat yourself up. I am glad you are fighting for your money back and I hope you get your money back. Thanks for the paypal warning. I will not use them anymore now that I hear what they are doing to you as a customer. Best of luck with this matter.
Please keep us posted! I just had something resolved with Paypal and it took almost a month. From what I've heard they've been SLAMMED with everyone shopping online lately.
So sorry you got scammed. Shame on Pay Pal...they should have immediately taken care if this matter!!
Great tips for shopping online. I’m sorry you experienced this and hope your money gets refunded to you
PayPal is iffy. My son has always taught me how to google scam companies. I buy from wish, WalMart, etsy, and whatnot. I do use credit cards thru PayPal. Any dispute other than Amazon always taken a long time to correct.
I ALWAYS buy CASH ON DELIVERY ONLY (AFTER I HAVE RECEIVED AND EXAMINED IT!)
Thank you for the information
Ugh! People are awful. It stinks, and I'm sorry it happened to you. ☹ Thanks for all the awesome tips on how to prevent this from happening to us. I hope you will let us know where things land with PayPal.
You may want to close out the card you used so it's not compromised by the vendor.
Let us know any updates bc what is done against one person is a crime against all. We are with you energetically in reclaiming what is rightfully yours. Hopefully, PayPal will deliver you a speedy recovery of your money.🤞Fingers crossed.🤞
sorry to hear it! Happens all the time.
I have family that had their pay pal account get hacked and it cleared out their bank account. They ended up getting their money back but it took a while.
OMGOSH! So scary!
The exact, exact same thing happened to me when I ordered a set of Legos at Christmas.
PayPal denied me twice!
I placed an order online for those giant balls you fill with water from a company that was advertising on Facebook. I haven’t received anything yet and I just looked, sure enough they have a gmail address. Ugh. Thank you. I guess I’ll be working on this today.
I try not to purchase items online that I can buy locally.
So sorry this happened to you. I use a credit card with a $500 limit for all on-line shopping only.
Same thing happened to me from a Facebook ad. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I was naive and thought Facebook ads were legit. Different company but same thing. I did see reviews but they used a real name of another company and it was a bogus charge from a company in China. I checked dimensions, etc. PayPal did refund me. I'm sure they will do the same for you.
I'm so sorry. I have been googling websites I'm new to make sure it's legit. Cleanyo.com is also a fraud.
Totally understandable that this happened... many parents, including myself, are so eager to find ways to keep cool with the kids, it's easy to give in to the urge to just "go for it" and ignore those hesistant feelings. I was desperate to find a pool a couple weeks ago, and the only options were online and sketchy. I didn't end up buying anything, but I was close! I'm ready to just embrace the good ol' sprinkler and water balloons! (and camp crafts like bracelet making and papier mache) ;)
I only shop with companies that have PayPal...
Good to see fellow content creators on here talking about the rise in money scams during COVID... it's a genuine spike that needs awareness. Great video 👏🏾👌🏾
Better to pay through paypal than let some dodgy company get your card details though! I recently had an issue with a company that sent me fake goods, i reported them to Action Fraud (UK) and sent the goods back , it took 5 weeks to get my money back and i emailed them constantly and then raised an issue with paypal. Resolved though.
I only use Amazon and I use prime I’ve only ever had one package not be delivered and they shipped it out immediately the next day for the exact same item that I did not have delivered but I’m sorry to hear that this happened to you because that company would sound reputable I would think but it’s good to always check again I only go with national companies like Amazon I have use eBay quite a bit as well and I’m kind of freaked out about your eBay because I wasn’t quite sure if I would actually get my actual packages from the sellers but I always look at the seller feedback ready before I ever buy anything off of there I hope that you get your money refunded
Thanks for the warning. I'm so sorry this happened to you. It happened to me years ago on ebay but I did get the money back eventually. I hope you do as well.
I have bought Breville products and LOVE them. Quality products. This is why I only order through Amazon.
Dear Dana, thanks so much for this particular video. I am a follower from Germany, here we recently had PayPal reported within the TV where they check in the name of us costumers just about everything and it came up that PayPal is well aware of that fraud but leave it to you to follow through and it costs you lots of calls, mails and your last patience to get your money back. If at all. Even with the involvement of a camera team it was barely sorted. 🙄
i think this is what sellers do, they make it a huge runaround and they know that paypal will not let you win the case if a new tracking number is provided. the seller wants it to take so long and be so frustrating that you just give up.
I was scammed also in May of 2021 on Amazon. I contacted the person and no one ever contacted me back...I feel your pain.
Sorry to hear this happened to you. Thank you for sharing & the tips. Hope you'll get your money back.
I'm so happy Debt Free Dana is still here. It was a scary hot spot by you, but not in your state. Hope it's not to hot by you.
Love your transparency, thanks for sharing
When I see anything I always hop onto Amazon to search for it. I trust Amazon and have only ever had good experiences from them. I have also bought on EBay. EBay has always stood behind any issue and refunded me.
Sorry to hear about it, I only pay cash up front every time. Yes, I'm very low on trust, if you don't have the item in front of me, you won't get my money. Online sellers sometimes refuse me but I know I can always take my business elsewhere. It's my money, I pay the way I want and no seller who is not willing to accommodate buyers request will have a cent from me.
I've been very disappointed with PayPal in the past.
the website is a massive giveaway, 'breville coffee machine' ? Breville is a huge company. This is a common scam by someone in China. sorry you got had, hopefully paypal will look at this, keep updating the details on the case on paypal if you can, give them the website details. You can also contact the domain provider to see if they can take the website down.
I never purchased from websites that I never heard of. Way to many scammy ones out there. Most of my purchases comes from ebay or amazon. Sure there are scammers, but they don't last long on those sites since they are both buyer friendly.
Your bank might hep you with this....you have 90 days to dispute a charge. Paypal won't like it...but, that's their problem.
Why would you order something from Breville coffee machine.com...I use Breville kitchen stuff all the time and Breville is a great company for kitchen equioment... but slides??? Shouldn't the name have been a clue???
So glad you made this video? I was recently scammed out of $100.00 for a product I
Ordered that never came. After hearing your story I will not be
using pay pal. Also, it appears they had access to my history of things I had been looking at because they sent me a notice for a "sale" item of the exact thing that I wanted. I don't shop
from companies that are not well known. Thanks for the tips!
PayPal is the absolute WORSE to deal with. I really hope they resolve your issue. I had a charges on my Paypal account that I did not recognize and even got a Police Report because someone had hacked my Paypal account and Paypal still did NOT refund my money. They are the absolute most disgusting to deal with in fraudulent situations. I would avoid using Paypal ever.
Thank you for opening up and being vulnerable with this. I appreciate it.
A tip off for me when watching your video was when you showed the screenshot of the contact information. I've lived in New York state all my life and have never seen a 253 area code. When I used the Ecosia search engine (eco version of Google) I saw 253 belongs to Washington state. So you can also check the phone # and where it leads. I've found a few scammers that way, even if they've used an 800 number. Good luck getting your money back!!
This year, eBay, PayPal and my credit card company have been good at getting me out of these scrapes but, yeah, it’s also because I will latch onto these scammers like a badger. One guy tried to scam me on eBay but, although eBay told me I only had 30 days to rectify the situation, I had 90 days with PayPal so, yep, I still got my money.
I think we’ve seen an increase in everything from scams to price gouging because more people, including scammers are at unemployed and/or WFH and they know people have become more dependent on online shopping, as a result. They’ve also become far more adept at where the shortages are. Although it may be technology that is still a highly-coveted item, this year, canning supplies are a category one can easily get scammed into also. Took me 3 tries to get the T-Fal canner I was trying to buy on eBay. People’s perception is that buying on Amazon is safer. No, it isn’t. It’s been a Price gouger’s paradise since before the pandemic. But now, even canning lids are a scam.
One of the things I do, if I become a bit suspicious to not use a form of payment I’ve just used, where I was just scammed on another purchase. The reason being is that PayPal, banks, etc. aren’t going to keep fixing these situations. After a short time, like 2 or 3 times, they just begin to look at the customer as an idiot that is more work than their account is worth or maybe even a scammer themselves. So, don’t test their patience either. Especially as, they’re not going to always handle it well with even 1 purchase, if it’s not right sometimes.
I am so sorry this happened to you, Dana. The same thing happened to me a few weeks ago when I was trying to buy a bike for our daughter. The price was way too good to be true, and I was kicking myself as soon as I realized it was a scam. It was pretty obvious that the website was a bit strange, especially when I scrolled all the way down and looked at information at the bottom. You may already have resolved this, but in addition to going to PayPal, who has extremely spotty customer service right now because of COVID-19, I called my bank customer service (I also used a debit card). They can also file a claim for you from their end. This is how we got a refund, even though I paid through PayPal.
Also be careful with the trash removal folks that come to your home. I talked to one lady on the phone and was very honest with what needed to be removed. They came and looked, and the estimate was over $200 OFF. tHEN they didn't give me the discount that was discussed originally. My mistake, I was home by myself (having to take off of work) to get this done. Don't be alone when/if these folks come to your house. They were obviously price gauging me.
Thanks for sharing good to know that about PayPal. Another option is to search Groupon or Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor app sellers to buy local. Sometimes it takes a week or two, but eventually I'll find what im looking for, ex. Instapot, toys, plants, furniture, even a car! Secure websites have a lock icon in the https address at the top of the web page. Doesn't the letters https mean... secure for transactions?
They might now have your information. It might not only be a scam by buying a fake thing, but also fishing for your banking, passwords, etc. PayPal is terrible. I stopped using them because they didn't help me one time, and the whole purpose was to have them support me. I just saw a webinar on this fishing/fake purchases thing today from our IT provider.
Happened to my hubby too. He ordered a part for our lawnmower. Instead we received a $4 cheap watch in a fake Tiffany box. Since we had a delivered tracking number to our home and received A product, no refund was issued.
I only order things off Amazon whenever possible because they are great about weeding out scammers, and I've never been burned. If I'm considering making a purchase outside Amazon, I always google the name of the company and look for reviews, then read through those before making a purchase. I've saved myself from getting ripped off several times by doing that because almost all reviews were negative -- items not delivered, etc.
I never order online. Never pay bills online. I did have a smart card that you load a certain amount of money on.....just enought to pay for an order but it has a monthly fee so I got rid of it.
We were scammed too by someone off of Amazon, and almost was by some computer company offering security protection plan of some kind. My husband talked to them. I do remember him giving them access to our computer, which seemed odd to me at the time. I kept warning him that it didn't feel legit, but he went ahead and did it anyways. Sure enough, the guy tried using our card. Thankfully he tried to go over our limit, and our bank called us to confirm if the payment amount was correct. Another thing to keep an eye on is your receipts at stores. Some cashiers will try to overcharge you on your card without you knowing. Especially during the big holidays, when people don't pay attention enough.
I really liked it when you shared - we don't believe in credit cards so we don't use them.
I'm $3000 in debt on my credit card.
What would your suggestion be to get out of this?
I'd really like to live debt free.
Beware of ordering from Chinese companies unless they are affiliated with sites like Amazon. If you want to return or exchange something it is EXTREMELY expensive to ship to China and they do not honor the terms and conditions on their websites.
Just curious did you PayPal payment come out of your bank account? If so you can file a dispute with your bank for not receiving the goods. I am a banker so that’s why I’m asking.
Hi Dana. I would like a follow up on this issue with PayPal. Most probably I shall stop using them, since my only purpose to do it so is customer guarantee, if they do not meet our expectations them why should I be giving them a profit from my purchases?
Paypal is like an insurance company...the goal is NOT to pay...which is how they continue to make money!
I got scammed last week. I had spoken to my mortgage company and made my mortgage payment. We had been discussing revising my mortgage. Ten minutes later man calls me with a private number. Starts by posing as someone from my mortgage company I stated private number and he stated my phone was not working properly and would call back. He then called with a number listed from my mortgage company. Anyway told me I was selected as revision and decreased my payment and interest. The long and short of it was he convinced me he was legitimate. I was able to get my money returned by bank. Watch everything and if person does not have an American accent I refuse to deal with them. I am still shaken by this.
Usually PayPal is hooked up to your bank or credit card is there another way to get your money back through them? I have ordered on eBay and had something said delivered but it basically meant it was turned over to the mail or UPS. So delivered to them not me. I am sorry you have had this experience. It would make me not be able to sleep over it. Thanks for making the rest of us aware!
I sure hate this for you. I’ve been ordering on line too and now someone has gotten my phone number and starting sending me texts, extremely inappropriate, obviously foreign, but I can’t block them because they don’t send using a phone number, it’s always some weird e-mail address that changes every day. I use an iPhone and can’t find a way to block them. Anyway, that’s a little off topic, I started using PayPal recently and they do brag about protecting my rights or purchases. I’m about to cancel everything and just stop buying for awhile! I really hope you get your money back, what an ordeal. The woman who’s annoying you should be ashamed of herself.
Wow I use PayPal a lot thinking it's safer when making online purchases. I hope you get your money back.
We also do not have any debt, but we do have credit cards that we use online for stuff like this and for travelling. My husband has to travel overseas for work all of the time and his employer doesn't allow him to use a debit card. He pays any purchases he makes on a card within 30 days so we aren't charged interest. The insurance on the card has saved us money several times.
Also some of the scam have redirected website addresses. So pay attention when you click items that website changes multiple times.
I had a similar situation. When the paypal rep looked at the tracking information, though, she noted that it was a "small package" and I had ordered a toaster oven. She immediately refunded my money. Sometimes they do get things right.
i am a pensioner and I have been scammed to hell and back and I might if allowed to name the people I will ask first before I get into trouble .tell you later as they are big spenders on google so I properly wont be able to tell you who to stay AWAY FROM .
I always use credit cards for protection and to build my credit score. If you pay them off every month they are a tool; I feel tools are neutral, it is the energy with which you use them that is good or bad. There are too many unscrupulous people out there taking advantage.
Dana, what ever happened with this? Hope you got your money back...
Omg that's horrible good luck with your dispute.
PayPal allowed someone to get ahold of my account and take about 8-10 transactions of around $75. I immediately filed fraud and it’s been 5 months and they still haven’t finished my case. I will never use PayPal again.