According to a 2021 online purchase scams report from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), last year nearly one third of scams reported to the BBB scam tracker by Canadians were about online purchase scams. The BBB is a private non-profit organization that focuses on marketplace statistics.
Online purchase scams ranked as the third riskiest scam in Canada with 73.3 per cent of those targeted losing money.
Research conducted by the BBB found that 53 per cent of Canadians are shopping online more, and 56 per cent spent more time browsing online or social media. These increases are likely contributing factors to the increase in online related scams.
The report also noted that the 18-24 age group were more likely to report losing money then all other age groups, representing over 80 per cent of the total scams reported.
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Online scams are varied and include issues such as paying for items that never arrive or are of low quality, getting a bill for unexpected import taxes, fake websites, purchasing or receiving counterfeit goods, and subscription and free trial traps.
The BBB report states that an example of a common online fraud report involves a consumer responding to online ads on Facebook and Instagram. After placing a product order through those ads, victims received nothing or items that were inferior from what the ads had originally promised.
Other emerging online scams include pet, vehicle and costly free trial scams.
Some suggestions to avoid being victimized by include; avoiding making purchases on social media, verify customer reviews before a purchase and paying by credit card as opposed to debit card due to the increased protection against scams.
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Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
eddie.huband@ldnews.net
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