Online shopping scams the fastest growing in the country, ACCC warns

The fastest growing area for scams is online shopping scams, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned.

Tom Elliott recently fell victim to a Facebook scam, when he purchased a cheap surfboard for his wife online.

ACCC’s deputy chair Delia Rickard said Tom’s certainly not alone in his experience.

“It’s incredibly common, unfortunately the fastest growing area of scams we’re seeing is online shopping scams and a lot of them happen on social media, including and especially Facebook,” she said.

“There are way too many on their site.

“It’s really important if you have been scammed by someone on Facebook to let them know as many details as you can.”

Ms Rickard said the best practice is to pay by secure means, like PayPal or on a credit card, and always contact the bank in the hope you can get a refund if you’ve been scammed.

“If you’re buying from the site you’re not familiar with, and it sounds like a particularly good deal, always do a Google quick search to see what others have had to say about it,” she said.

“People are pretty quick to go online when they have been ripped off.”

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