Most online stores are exactly what they claim to be, but a small number are built to take your money or your card details. Knowing the handful of scams that keep coming back makes them much easier to spot.
This guide walks through the most common online shopping scams, what each one looks like, and the simple habits that protect you. You can also run any store through our free check before you buy.
Paste an address for a free safety check: encryption, malware and phishing, domain age and more.
Online shopping scams tend to fall into a few familiar shapes. Once you recognise the pattern, the specific store or product barely matters. The cards below cover the ones you are most likely to meet, and the section after that turns them into a short checklist you can run in a minute.
If a store feels off, start with our free safety check. It looks at the technical signals so you can focus on the things only a human can judge.
A brand-new site, or one dressed up to look like a well-known brand, set up mainly to collect payments.
Fakes sold as genuine, often at a small discount so the price still looks believable.
Heavy discounts on in-demand items, designed to rush you into paying before you think.
You pay, the order is confirmed, and nothing ever arrives. Contact details then go quiet.
A payment or checkout page built to capture card details rather than complete a real order.
A cheap or free trial that quietly signs you up to recurring charges that are hard to cancel.
Many dodgy stores now reach people through social media ads rather than search. The ad looks professional, the product looks appealing, and one tap takes you to a store you have never heard of. The ad itself is not proof of anything, so treat a store you found through an ad exactly as you would any unknown site. Check it before you pay, not after.
Act quickly. Contact your bank or card provider to report the charge and ask about a chargeback, and change any password you reused on the store. Keep the order confirmation, emails and any receipts, and report the store to your local consumer protection body. The sooner you flag it, the better your chances of getting your money back.
Fake or copycat stores and non-delivery are among the most common. You pay for an order that either never arrives or turns out to be a counterfeit, and the store goes quiet afterwards. Checking a store before you buy is the best defence.
Run it through a free safety check for the technical signals, then search the store name with the word "scam" or "review". Be cautious of very new sites, prices well below everyone else, missing contact details and payment by bank transfer or gift card.
Not always, but a very low price on an in-demand item is one of the strongest warning signs. Scammers use big discounts to rush you into paying before you check the store. Slow down, verify the store, and pay with a protected method.
Use a method that offers buyer protection, such as a credit card or PayPal, so you can dispute a charge if something goes wrong. Avoid bank transfers and gift cards for stores you do not know, as those payments are very hard to reverse.
Contact your bank or card provider straight away to report the charge and ask about a chargeback, change any reused passwords, keep all records of the order, and report the store to your local consumer protection body.
Free, anonymous, and no signup. Know before you buy.