A Bengal Guide to Safe Shopping

It’s that time of year. The weather is cold, the holidays are over, and online scammers are continuing their assault on innocent netizens. 

According to a poll posted on our Instagram page, 88% of Blake Bengals have been scammed online, compared to 8% in person and 5% over the phone. According to an FBI report, Americans lost $10.3 billion to internet scams in 2022, the largest amount lost since 2018. 

Due to an increase in online shopping caused by the pandemic, the risk of being scammed online has increased for everyone. The desire to get high-quality gifts for low prices drives many people to use websites they’re unfamiliar with to shop, which can be risky.

Sophomore Tiffany Ojeda notes that “sometimes [people online say], ‘Oh, I’ll sell you this,’ and then someone pays money for [the item], but they never get [it].”

Types of Online Scams

A US Federal Trade Commission report states that the three most common types of online scams are fraudulent online shopping purchases, fake investment opportunities, and romance scams.

Fraudulent online shopping purchases happen when people buy things online, pay for them, and then never get the items they paid for. To prevent this, you should search for the name of the company or brand and add the words “complaint” or “scam” to see if anyone else has been scammed by them. You can also search for the company on the Better Business Bureau, an organization that lists what businesses are and aren’t accredited.

Fake investment opportunities happen when certain influencers convince their followers to join courses and classes that will help them get rich quickly. These influencers gain huge followings by pretending to live lives of luxury and buying followers, which makes their real followers believe that they’re financial experts.

Finally, romance scams happen when scammers quickly befriend people on social media sites and try to establish a platonic or romantic relationship with them. They shower their victims with affection to lower their guards and then ask them for money after a sense of trust has been established. 

These scammers normally request for money to be sent to them via wire transfers, money transfer apps, or gift cards, methods of sending money that are hard to reverse. And of course, they try to avoid meeting their victims in person or via video.

If you’re shopping on a website you’ve never used before, Junior Abby Mekonnen advises that you should “find another person to confirm what they’re selling.” If the site has a phone number, Mekonnen adds that you should try to “call a representative” to see if the business exists or not.

However, if you’ve ever been scammed, you shouldn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed – many scammers are experts in their crafts and can get money from even the most cautious people. The most important thing to do when shopping online is to only shop on websites you or the people you know are familiar with. Remember to shop safely, Bengals!