Fake Witchery websites trick buyers
Samantha Richards could not believe the deals that clothing retailer Witchery was offering online.
But, as it turns out, she should not have. The site she spent $102 on was in fact a scam, pretending to be the popular women’s clothing store.
‘‘I have a bad feeling people could easily have spent more than that as the sale offers were amazing,’’ she said.
Customers are being targeted with fake advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, which then take them to a fraudulent website.
Richards said she found the website to be extremely professional and she never once thought it was not an official website.
It was only 10 days later, when she checked the confirmation email to see how long her order would take to arrive, that she saw the return email address was odd.
Attempting to make contact with Witchery was difficult, she said. ‘‘The Lambton Quay branch never answered the phone and I could only get through to the Wellington Airport branch which gave me the customer service email so I could contact them.’’
‘‘I had to cancel my bank card because [scammers] now have all of my account details.
‘‘It will take five to 10 days to get a new card.
‘‘I am still waiting on Kiwibank to see if the money can be found.’’
A spokesperson for Witchery said the brand, which also operates in Australia, had been targeted by an external scam network.
‘‘There are fake Witchery websites circulating the internet.
‘‘It isn’t one single website, there are multiple sites,’’ she said.
‘‘Sadly we are not the only brand this is happening to.
‘‘It is happening right across the Australian retail industry.’’
Witchery had submitted a takedown request which was currently being processed.
The official Witchery websites domains are witchery.com.au, witchery.co.nz and witchery.com.
‘‘This is an unfortunate and frustrating situation and Witchery is working with Facebook/ Instagram to remove these fraudulent websites as a matter of high priority.’’
The spokesperson said its store teams and customer service teams were working with customers to ‘‘guide them through the best process’’ if they had made any purchases through these sites.
‘‘Customers need to reach out to their bank to assist with having stolen funds returned to their bank accounts.’’