Websites that pretend to represent brands such as Gorman, Peter Alexander and RM Williams, are being advertised on social media.
The sites claim to sell items for significant discounts on the recommended retail price. However, those who hand over their card information either receive fake goods or nothing at all.
One website – which is still live – masquerades as sleepwear brand Peter Alexander’s online store. It features the same branding and text on its pages, including its “About Peter” page, as the real site. However, the scam website – which does not use the Peter Alexander name in its URL – claims to sell pyjamas at an 80 per cent discount.
A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said they had received reports of websites using sophisticated designs and layouts, possibly stolen logos, .com.au domain names and stolen Australian Business Numbers.
“Many of these websites offer luxury items such as popular brands of clothing, jewellery and electronics at very low prices,” they said.
“Sometimes you will receive the item you paid for, but they will be fake. Other times you will receive nothing at all.”
The spokesperson said these scam websites will usually limit payment options, forcing consumers to pay using a card rather than offering a secure payment option, such as PayPal.
Melbourne-based women’s fashion brand Gorman posted a warning on its social media after it learned customers were scammed by a fake website.
“We are deeply heartbroken to hear some of our customers have unknowingly fallen victim to a scam website masquerading as our company,” the brand posted on its Instagram page earlier this month.
“We want to assure our customers that we are actively taking measures to combat these deceptive websites and have been working diligently to have them shut down.”
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed the ads for the fake Peter Alexander website had been removed from its sites. Meta is also conducting a wider investigation into the issue of scam websites taking out ads on its platforms.
“We know that scammers can use sophisticated methods to contact people online and we use a combination of automated systems and people to stop and remove these scams,” the spokesperson said.
A TikTok spokesperson said it also used a combination of human and machine-based approaches to identify misleading advertisements on its social media app, encouraging people to report impersonation accounts in the app.
A Peter Alexander Spokesperson said scam websites were a growing issue for Australian businesses, and it updates its customers on scams using its social media channels.
“We encourage the Peter Alexander community to report any suspicious websites or communication to Scam Watch to us directly,” they said.
ACCC advice to protect yourself from online shopping scams
- Watch out for websites or sellers advertising at very low prices, often lower than comparable to identical items on other websites. Slow down and consider whether a sale is too good to be true.
- You can report sponsored ads to Google in ‘My Ad Centre’. This can be accessed by clicking on the three stacked dots to the right of the sponsored ad.
- Always access websites via an independent search rather than through links in emails, SMS or social media. Use apps from official app stores where available.
- Always look for secure payment options such as PayPal or Apple/Google Pay rather than providing your credit card details to the seller. Scammers often ask you to pay by non-secure payment methods such as wire, bank or international funds transfers, money orders, pre-loaded gift cards, and cryptocurrency. It’s rare to recover money sent this way.
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