Attorney General Ashley Moody Press Release
SUMMER SCAM SERIES: Beware of online shopping scams promoting “summer deals”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Continuing the Summer Scam series, Attorney General Ashley Moody is issuing a consumer alert to warn Floridians of potential online shopping scams. Many online retailers are running huge summer sales. Scammers can mimic these legitimate events to target consumers with malware, phishing texts, and other messages designed to steal personal or financial information.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Summer sales are a popular way for online retailers to attract customers and promote seasonal items. Scammers know this and can exploit these business occurrences by posing as representatives of major retailers to steal money or personal information from unsuspecting consumers. As we continue our Summer Scam series, I urge consumers to take a few proactive steps to avoid fake emails, text messages, and websites designed to impersonate legitimate businesses.
Attorney General Moody warns Floridians of four tactics scammers use to target online shoppers:
- Copy websites that look dangerously, if not exactly, like the legitimate store’s website. Pay special attention to the website URL.
- Fake security alert emails claim a target’s online account is compromised – often asking users to verify names, addresses and billing phone numbers. These messages may be related to malware or may be used to steal information. Check the legitimacy of the message by calling the company and asking questions on the email.
- Falsified order confirmations and package delivery updates use the same fake email concept as the security alert scam, except they target different stages of the ordering process, which makes the whole scam more realistic.
- Fraudulent phone calls may appear to come from a legitimate business number. These phone calls may offer sweepstakes, warn of security issues, ask the recipient to complete a survey, or use other tactics. Most businesses won’t call trying to convince a customer to pay anything over the phone, ask for a customer’s personal information, or offer an unexpected refund. Hang up immediately if this is the case.
Ahead of the popular online shopping day, Cyber Monday, Attorney General Moody released tips to help online shoppers avoid retail scams. To view tips, click here.
To view other recent consumer alerts, visit the Attorney General Moody’s Consumer Alerts webpage at MyFloridaLegal.com/ConsumerAlert.
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