Event Tickets
Online sellers such as StubHub, which boasts that it has sold tickets to over 10 million events worldwide, play an increasingly vital role in ticket distribution. Fifty percent of Americans say that after purchasing tickets on the secondary market, either the seats were of lower quality than advertised, the price was not fair, or they had trouble entering the venue.
Travel Accommodation
Online marketplaces such as Airbnb and VRBO have booked billions of stays worldwide. However, guests have long raised concerns about their safety, and a recent CNN investigation found that Airbnb is failing to protect its guests from hidden cameras.
Goods and Services
Online markets have been especially risky for consumers, whether for counterfeit luxury goods, pharmaceuticals or other drugs, or toys made of dangerous materials. The online sale of counterfeit products has exploded, and many Americans don’t realize that many products sold on platforms such as Amazon are actually being peddled by third parties.
Domain Names
The secondary market for domains poses an issue for consumers and businesses alike. Consumers may often be tricked into purchasing event tickets at a premium because an online site appears to be the venue box office when it’s actually a reseller. The emergence of domain secondary markets has led to a spike in domain name prices, making it difficult for small business owners to establish an online presence.
Direct Purchase
Where possible and feasible, the safest bet is almost always to purchase goods or services directly from the company selling them. This severely reduces the risk of fraud or counterfeiting.
Check URLS
Bad actors often attempt to deceive consumers by using URLs similar in look and name to more popular, legitimate services. Before making a purchase or even visiting a website, consumers should diligently check the URL to ensure it is officially associated with a known and trusted brand.
Carefully Inspect the Website
When interacting with the website, do your best to inspect its quality for signals of legitimacy. Frequent mistakes in grammar and punctuation, outdated visuals, and clunky user interfaces should be seen as significant red flags.
Research the Website’s History
Looking into a website’s online history can effectively filter out bad ones. Online tools can give insights into how long a domain has been active. Consumers should be more cautious of newer sites, especially those that appear brand new. Consumers can also search a website or company name on the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker to see if others have reported harmful interactions in the past.
Use protected payment methods
Credit cards and established services like PayPal usually offer built-in fraud protection, enabling customers to cancel fraudulent transactions once a scam is recognized or be reimbursed for their losses. Other, more cash-based payment methods, such as Venmo or CashApp, are much riskier and, as such, are commonly requested by scammers.
Be Careful of Reviews
Product reviews can be a valuable tool in determining the quality and legitimacy of a product, but they should only be trusted with verification. Malicious actors regularly post fake positive reviews of their scam websites and products designed to mislead consumers into believing that others have been satisfied with a service. Any reviews should be examined for signs of illegitimacy, such as poor grammar or lack of depth.
