Identify consumer scams
Consumer scams include online shopping scams, subscription traps and phishing. In a typical online shopping scam, a product not actually held by the seller is made available for sale, the seller has no intention to deliver the product or the seller delivers the wrong product.
Marketing messages may be intended to use various questions or participation requests to obtain confidential information, spread malware or tie the respondent to unreasonable agreement terms. The question may be of miracle products that come with empty promises concerning their effects. Often a cheap one-off offer leads to a subscription trap, in which the buyer is tied to an unwanted long-term subscription.
Marketing can be carried out in the name of a well-known company, or a trademark can be linked to inappropriate contexts. Websites and URLs, as well as the message layout and the sender’s information, may be nearly identical to those of the original party.
Read more about consumer product fraud as a phenomenon.
- Before making purchases in an online shop, stop and ask yourself the following questions: Does the offer sound too good to be true? Do I really need to respond urgently? Is the message content otherwise suspicious? Is the message written appropriately with good grammar? The quality of counterfeit products is not often as high as in the original product, and such products may even be hazardous to health.
- Acquaint yourself with the online shop and its delivery terms before ordering. Identify other consumers’ experiences in the online shop. Do not let the website’s language fool you – a Finnish site can be based in any country.
- Beware of subscription traps and make sure whether the subscription is continuous when you are offered something for free or only at the price of postage. You may also end up in a trap by participating in online prize draws, competitions or questionnaires. In a subscription trap, you are misled to entering into a long-term subscription agreement, based on which invoices are sent to you or an amount is charged repeatedly from your account. File a complaint with the company without any delay.
Page last updated 10/24/2024