Staying Safe Online · Scams & Fake Pop-ups · Lesson 2 of 5

Fake Shops & Prize Sites

Spot fake online shops and prize sites before you pay a cent.

Deals that are too good to be true

Some online shops are fake. They look like real stores, with nice photos and a cart. But if you pay, nothing arrives, or you get a cheap copy.

Here are the warning signs:

• Prices that are much too low. A new phone for $60 or brand-name shoes at 90% off is a trap, not a lucky find.
• A look-alike web address. Scammers pick addresses close to a real one. One might use a zero for an o, like amaz0n-deals.shop.
• A rush. A timer counting down or "only 2 left" is there to stop you from thinking.
• No real contact details. No street address, no phone, only a form.

Prize sites work the same way. A page says you won a gift card or a new phone. To claim it, you must pay a small "shipping fee" or type in your card details. Real prizes don't ask you to pay. If you didn't enter a contest, you didn't win one.

When something seems odd, close the page. Then go to the real store yourself. Type its address in the address bar, or use a bookmark you saved before. A bookmark is a saved link to a page you trust.

How a scammer asks to be paid

How someone asks you to pay tells you a lot. Real shops let you pay with a credit card or a trusted payment service. Scammers want ways to pay that are hard to undo.

These are big red flags:

• Gift cards. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says anyone who asks you to pay with a gift card is a scammer. Gift cards are for gifts, not bills.
• Wire transfers. A wire transfer sends money straight from your bank to someone else. Once it is sent, it is very hard to get back.
• Cryptocurrency. This is digital money, like Bitcoin. Payments are hard to trace and almost never come back.
• Payment apps to a stranger, such as sending money to a person instead of a store.

Before you buy from a shop you don't know, check it outside its own site. Reviews on the shop's own page can be fake. Instead, search the shop's name with the word "scam" or "reviews" and see what others say.

If you do buy, pay with a credit card. If something goes wrong, you can ask your card company to take the charge back. This is called a dispute.

On a Mac or a phone, the advice is exactly the same.