Scammers target Ultimate customers with fake cheap deal on kettles
Popular home appliance shop Ultimate is warning customers to be wary of a fake social media account pretending to be the shop and promoting cheap €2.35 designer kettles.
Fraudsters are advertising the scam on a Facebook page purporting to be Ultimate and providing customers with the chance to buy a Smeg kettle for only €2.35.
Locally, the price of a 1.7 litre Smeg kettle can vary between €175 and €198.
“The surplus of goods, caused by the decision of Ultimate to stop sales in some regions, allows us to offer you the best prices,” the fake profile says.
The posts promoting the too-good-to-be-true promotion also had comments written by fake profiles praising the good service and fantastic promotion.
A link in the post takes users to a website claiming to be Smeg’s, asking users to answer three questions, before submitting their personal details and paying a €2.35 fee to receive their product.
Customers noted that the confirmation e-mail was sent from an address that was not Ultimate’s.
Home appliance shop Ultimate took to social media to warn customers about the fake page and scam.
Ultimate manager Matthew Cutajar told Times of Malta that the outlets have been bombarded with phone calls from customers, either claiming to have fallen for the scam or asking if the deal is true.
He has filed several reports to Facebook and also reported the scam to the police.
Cutajar said customers and people on social media must be wary of deals that are “too good to be true” and to do their research before purchasing.
“We do not even sell any Smeg products,” he said.
“Such scams are a concern for us, as we are put in a bad light and we do not wish to lose our reputation with customers.”
“Ultimate outlets bombarded with phone calls from customers