How to spot online shopping scams

MILLENNIALS are most at risk of being scammed while shopping online, with Gumtree and Facebook among the most popular sites used by fake advertising fraudsters.

New figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission show that 18-34 year olds report losses from scams more than any other age group.

Online shopping scam losses reported to the ACCC jumped 138 per cent last year to $3.3 million, and more than $1.6 million has already been lost in the first four months of this year.

Some scammers set up fake retailer websites, while others sell via fake ads on legitimate sites such as eBay and Instagram.

Charlotte Rasmussen, 29, lost $500 to a scam shopping on Gumtree for a puppy.

Mrs Rasmussen said she was fooled as there were photos of a lady with a litter of pugs and photos of individual pugs customers could choose from.

“The website was sophisticated,” she said. “They even gave us a tracking number.

“I realised something wasn’t right when the pug didn’t arrive

on delivery day. I was only contacted via email after payment and the seller kept asking for money to pay for the puppy ‘stuck’ in customs.”

Mrs Rasmussen said she had sent money to the scammer using Western Union.

Gumtree communications adviser Elleny Kourtis said transactions should always be made face to face.

“If you are buying a pet on Gumtree you should always read the RSPCA’s Smart Buyer Guides, be wary of sellers demanding deposits before meeting, visit the breeder and sight vet, vaccination and microchip history before committing,” she said.

Lisa Du, director of computer training company ReadyTechGo, said Millennials were often easy targets. “They can be more prone to click-bait as they quickly click stuff away to get to where they really want to go,” she said.

Social media giant Facebook said it removed 800 million fake accounts in the last half of 2018.

A Facebook spokesman said before clicking on adverts on Facebook, you should check if it was a company you knew.

“First check out its Facebook page: read the comments section, view the creation date of the page, browse the domain name and if there are spelling errors,” he said.

Fraud Watch is presented in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank. If you have a scams story, let us know at fraudwatch@news.com.au. To find out more, head to fraudwatch.com.au