Scammers Target “Viral” Items, Pet Sales Online Over Holidays

With more than $240 billion in U.S. online sales and almost $15 billion in holiday retail expected in Canada, shoppers across North America need to be alert to tactics used by scammers, such as fake advertisements to offer deep discounts and hard-to-find popular items.

According to the Better Business Bureau, scammers found new targets on social media with popular items such as beauty products and viral tumbler mugs, which contributed to a 125% rise in reports to BBB last year. In this BBB scam study update, which builds upon the work of a 2021 investigation and 2022 update, BBB examines that rise in reports, reviews the amount of money lost and shares stories from those caught up in the scams so the public knows what to avoid this holiday season.

Key findings:

With the ubiquity of online shopping, nearly everyone is at risk of running into an online shopping scam.
Pet scams make up a large portion of the reports; rare animals like lizards and sugar gliders are used to lure in consumers.
Online purchase scams are international in scope, with nearly every country in the world losing large amounts of money because of fake and misleading online purchase offers.
Over 80% of reports to BBB indicated that they lost money, making online purchase scams one of the most common scams the public encounters.

Online purchase scam reports across North America (2021-2023)

59,428 – BBB Scam Tracker
1,200,940 – Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network

Scam stories:

Rylee in Moline, Illinois told BBB she encountered an ad on social media for clothes at a deep discount. She paid nearly $100 for the set but things started to go wrong from the moment she sent her money. The shipping confirmation was suspicious, and she began to worry. When her items didn’t come, she went back and forth with the company, which promised her items would be delivered. After a couple months, she realized nothing was coming to her home and that she had been scammed.

Mark in Cave City, Arkansas told BBB he found work shirts for sale on Facebook. The product was supposedly shipped through USPS, and he tracked the product as it made its way toward him. However, it appeared to be stuck at several locations for weeks, before the company claimed it had been delivered. Mark went to the postal service office near him, and they told him the shipping number was fake, and he had been scammed.

Red flags: