Never trust an advertisement on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok to buy products. You’ll get more than you bargained for.
I wrote an article a few weeks ago about ads being using to lure people to fake AI video generation websites. In that case malicious software is being installed on your computer when you download the files.
But the real money is in the con game. If I wanted to, I could copy a real ad, create a new shopping website, and set up payment collection in less than a few minutes. It’s very easy and everyone is doing it. Everyone being the criminals, that is.
Here’s a picture of a fake advertisement.
But if I were doing it, I wouldn’t list it for $19.99 which is obviously too far under it’s value. Instead, I would advertise if for half-off the regular price. Then I would email an order confirmation that says it will ship in a week. After a week I would send the shipping confirmation.
The shipping confirmation could be fake or legitimate. For just a few dollars, a scammer could even send an empty package to your home. The delivery confirmation would prove that you received it, so you’d never be able to get your money back from the credit card.
Eventually the credit card company would know the merchant wasn’t legitimate, but by then the criminals have scammed people for tons of money before starting their next game.
Alternatively, to make things even easier, the criminals aren’t even doing the shipping part. Instead they are closing up shop within a few days.
Here’s some tips to spot fake ads:
- The ad is too good to be true.
- The price is way too low.
- It asks you to direct message (“dm”) credit card information or use another form of payment (Zelle, CashApp, Venmo, PayPal, gift cards) — never do this because you can’t get the money back!
- Comments are disabled.
- Too many five star reviews.
- The website name is complicated and is not part of the real company’s website, such as www.thegapjeans.com instead of www.gap.com — if you aren’t sure if a website is legitimate, ask me.
There are many real ads on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but don’t take a chance. If you really want the product, you should be able to find the website and product on legitimate websites.