Have you ever bought something online and it never showed up.
According to the Better Business Bureau, nearly one-third of scams reported to the BBB Scam Tracker by Canadians were about online purchase scams.
Well, you can count me as one of them. I got suckered by an online scam right here in Burnaby after finally deciding to buy something online.
I am one of the very few people who had never, ever bought anything online. Heck, even my mom has done this and she’s in her 80s.
I bought something online for about $70. It was an item emblazoned with the Boston Red Sox logo – my favourite baseball team. The response I received a few weeks after purchasing it said the item has been “delayed”.
So, how did I get scammed? Well, I paid for it and the damn thing never arrived. When I tried to track down the company, I learned that it was a ghost that really didn’t exist.
I haven’t ordered anything online since then.
With 73.3% of those targeted losing money, online purchase scams ranked as the 3rd riskiest scam in Canada according to the 2021 BBB Risk Report.
Research conducted by the Better Business Bureau found that more than half (53%) of Canadians are shopping online more, and 56% spent more time browsing online or social media. These increases are likely contributing factors to the increase in online related scams.
Online scams are vast and varied and encompass issues such as:
- Paying for items that never arrive or are of low quality or not…
