Fake Clothing Websites To Avoid When Shopping Online

Online Shopping Fraud Reaches a Whole New Level

Due to the increasing popularity of online clothing shopping, which has only been fuelled by online corporations offering goods at a highly competitive price and delivered to your door, it is no surprise that we as shoppers are now opting to spend more online than we do in physical stores. The amount spent on eCommerce annually is set to grow by around 15% a year until 2024 making online shopping big business!

Brick and mortar businesses are struggling as more and more online-only clothing businesses who can offer goods at lower prices thanks to their low overheads, emerge. Not having to rely on a physical location means businesses can cut overheads, a benefit that is very often passed on to the end customer.

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As with any industry, you will always find people trying to exploit others for financial gain, and the online clothing market is by no means free of these scams.

In this article, we will show you a couple of the most popular online scams, how to detect fake clothing websites, and how to report them. Let's take a look at a quick example and then we go deeper into the article.

Watch the video below to see Top 5 red flags for detecting scams websites:

However, there are more powerful ways to detect bogus fashion sites – keep reading.

Fake Clothing Websites

This popular scam has emerged with the increase in the use of social media, as it can be cheap and easy to put out adverts which to the untrained eye look to be legit, but once the money is exchanged the company mysteriously disappears or has no recollection of your order. Or, they may send you a different product, like in the Irish Setter Outlet Scam.

It can be easy to identify if a company is real as people opting for this scam often don't cover all bases. You will find images that have been stolen from other legitimate businesses to pass off as their own, and from the scams, we have seen the price is usually too good to be true.

Counterfeit Clothing Products

Due to the popularity of streetwear and companies such as Nike and Supreme offering limited drops of products, which sell out instantly then emerge quickly on the resale market we have seen an influx in reports of counterfeit goods sold online. Like with anything, if it seems too good to be true then chances are it is.

How To Detect a Bogus Clothing Site

The best way to avoid all the fake e-commerce sites including ones selling fashion items is to easily detect and block them. How to do that? Two ways – see below:

1. There is a powerful tool that notifies you if a website is real or not. You should install a browser extension called Guardio HERE (we tested it, it works and is worth every penny). It automatically blocks 100x more harmful websites than competitors and 10x more malicious downloads than any other security tool. Very effective not just for fashion sites, but for all websites on the internet. A must-have.

2. If you feel a website might be suspicious, feel free to verify it using our unique Scam Detector website validator below:

How To Avoid: Get Into Detail

In addition, there are more ways to verify an online shop selling you clothes. If you suspect a company you are looking to buy from may be a scam or a fake company then there are a few things you can do to avoid being ripped off:

1. Reviews

Any good company will have reviews from customers, after all these are written by real customers about the experience they had with the company. Check out custom clothing manufacturer Banana Moon Clothing, on their site you will see man reviews from trusted review platform TrustPilot.

Pay close attention to the writer of the review, and when the reviews were submitted as it increasingly common to see fake reviews on legitimate platforms.

2. Website

A company's website will say a lot, and when you know what to look out for it just gets easier. Are they set up with an SSL certificate to make the website secure? Any company that takes details online must have an SSL certificate in place to avoid data theft.

The look and feel of a website will also tell you a lot. Are the pictures consistent, are the product listings consistent, Again, if it looks too good to be true then it probably is.

3. Checkout

There are a few things to look out for online checkouts. Firstly, do they have one? It's not uncommon to see companies asking you to pay through PayPal friends and family, or even worse through bank transfer. If they do have a checkout, do you recognize the name? Chances are the majority of retailers will use a select few checkout providers.

If you don't recognize the name, run it through a search engine. Is the checkout verified by card companies? A card company would not put their name to an illegitimate checkout provider. And lastly look at what details they are asking for, as too many card details can leave you vulnerable to identity theft.

We hope this helps expose a few companies and save you both money and disappointment. Now you know what to avoid and what to look out for, browse the latest seasons lines knowing you won't be a victim to an online scam.

Online Shopping Scams: How To Report

Let your family and friends know about this article by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) using the link below:

Report To The FTC Here

 

How To Protect Yourself More

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodic emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.