Is this a Scam? Tips for Safe Online Shopping

Online shopping has never been more convenient. But as e-commerce continues to scale, so has the sophistication of digital scams. AI is accelerating the problem, as fraudsters use it to build more convincing fake storefronts, generate realistic product reviews, and write phishing emails that are hard to distinguish from the real thing.

​The impact on consumer behavior is measurable. Clutch surveyed 401 consumers about their feelings toward online scams and found that:

• Eighty-six percent (86%) have changed their online shopping behavior due to rising scams.
• Of these, 35% are taking online shopping research more seriously — reading reviews, verifying website authenticity, and steering clear of unfamiliar brands.
• Just 14% say scams haven’t impacted their digital shopping behavior at all.

These numbers show that awareness of digital scams is growing. But knowing that they exist is a different skill from being able to spot them. With this overview of digital scams and prevention strategies for 2026, you'll be well on your way to shopping safely online.

Is This a Scam? Common Types of Online Shopping Scams

Today’s scammers run highly coordinated, AI-powered operations designed to closely mimic legitimate brands and retailers. The first step in avoiding this is to understand the strategies malicious actors use.

The most common types of online shopping scams are:

• Fake online stores
• Phishing & brand impersonation
• Marketplace and social media scams
• Payment and refund scams

Fake Online Stores

Some fraudsters build entire fake storefronts just to steal your money. They often use the same layouts as well-known brands and feature stolen product images alongside fake reviews.

If you make a purchase from one of these fraudulent online stores, they’ll take your money, but the product will never arrive. AI has made these sites easier to build and harder to detect. Even when authorities take one down, another convincing site can pop up almost immediately.

Phishing and Brand Impersonation

Phishing scams are also common in the e-commerce space. Scammers send emails or text messages impersonating trusted brands like Amazon, FedEx, or your bank. These ask you to click on a link to confirm your order, resolve a payment issue, or track a delivery.

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The link often takes you to a fraudulent site that looks identical to the real platform you know and trust. If you enter your login credentials, they’ll go straight to the scammers, who can use your information to access your money or buy products on sites like Amazon.

If you ever receive a message like this, don’t click on the link. Instead, use the method you know and trust to access the site and verify authenticity before proceeding. For example, go to Amazon.com and check for the communication there instead of clicking on the link you receive and logging in that way.

Marketplace and Social Media Scams

Peer-to-peer marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and eBay are also commonly used by scammers. For example, they may list items that don’t exist, send counterfeit goods instead of the real thing, or request payments through untraceable methods without sending you anything.

Social media scams tend to follow a similar playbook. Scammers post fraudulent ads on Instagram or TikTok to drive traffic to fake storefronts. They may appear legitimate with fake reviews and realistic storefronts. But if you can’t confirm the site’s authenticity through a separate channel (like a Google search or AI query), then you probably shouldn’t shop there.

Payment and Refund Scams

These scams happen after you’ve already bought something online. For example, a scammer may pretend to be a customer service agent and claim there was an issue with your order. If you engage, they’ll ask you to resend your payment details to “reprocess” the transaction. But actually, they’ll end up stealing your funds to buy things.

If there ever is a legitimate issue with your payment, you’ll typically be able to find that information through the same channel you used to make the purchase. Even if you can’t, it’s better to contact the company’s support staff through a trusted website rather than responding directly to a suspicious email or text.

Red Flags for Online Scams

Scams are getting harder to spot, but even the best still leave traces. Knowing what to look for before completing a purchase can save you money and frustration:

• Suspicious pricing: If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Any branded product selling for 50% to 70% below market value is a strong signal that something is off.
• Poor website quality: Legitimate retailers invest in creating a strong digital presence. Typos, broken links, low-resolution images, and inconsistent branding are all signs that a site was poorly made and could be fraudulent. AI has made it easier for scammers to avoid this red flag, but there are often still signs that a site hasn’t undergone rigorous testing.
• Limited or vague contact information: Trustworthy retailers make it easy to contact them by providing a phone number, a physical address, and a responsive customer service channel. If a site only has a generic contact form or no contact information at all, be cautious.
• Unusual payment requests: Fraudulent sites often ask for payment via unusual channels, such as wire transfers, gift cards, or peer-to-peer payment apps. These methods offer little buyer protection and are difficult to reverse, which means you should typically avoid them.
• No clear return or refund policy: Legitimate retailers stand behind their products with transparent policies. If a site has no information about returns and refunds, it may indicate a seller with no intention of resolving your issues.

No single red flag is always indicative of a scam e-commerce website. But if a platform triggers two or three of these warnings at once, trust your instincts and walk away. There are always legitimate alternatives, and no deal is worth the risk to your financial well-being.

How To Vet a Seller Before You Buy

The best way to protect yourself while shopping online is to vet new sellers proactively. That means running through the following checks before spending any money with a retailer you haven’t purchased from yet.

Research the Brand

Start with a basic Google search of the brand name alongside terms like “scam” or “complaints.” Even legitimate businesses get their fair share of poor reviews online — often due to customer frustration. But fake businesses tend to have a disproportionate number of these.

If a Google search turns up nothing about a brand, that can also be a warning sign. Established retailers leave digital trails and create organic customer conversations across the web.

Analyze Reviews Carefully

The vast majority of digital shoppers look at online reviews before making a purchase. However, these have gotten much easier for scammers to game. For example, AI-generated reviews can flood a product page with convincing five-star feedback, burying a small number of legitimate complaints.

This means it’s important to analyze product reviews—not just look for an overall score and move on. Specificity is key. Genuine reviews tend to include details about the buying experience, shipping timeline, or product quality. They also often include pictures or videos, but even these are getting difficult to trust in the era of AI-generated content.

For the best results, cross-reference reviews across multiple platforms. If the product page has dozens of five-star reviews, but you can’t find any other reviews on sites like Reddit or Google, that’s a red flag.

Check Website Security Basics

It’s also worth reviewing a few basic website security checks before proceeding with your purchase. Start by confirming that the site uses HTTPS encryption. This doesn’t guarantee authenticity, but fake sites often won’t even have it, and you can immediately move on from them.

Also, verify the domain name is accurate, without misspellings or subtle variations. For instance, make sure “Walmart.com” isn’t “Walmrat.com” or “Wal.mart.co.” Scammers often create sites that look identical to popular e-commerce platforms but host them on URLs with minor mistakes, hoping shoppers won’t check twice.

Verify Social Media Presence

Finally, double-check a new brand’s social media presence. Most growing companies have accounts on Instagram, X, or LinkedIn, as these platforms generate business for them. Scam operations will typically have either no social presence at all or freshly created accounts with only a handful of followers.

However, note that it’s fairly easy to buy fake followers online nowadays, so you may also want to check engagement and compare that to follower count. For example, if a brand has 10,000 followers on X but no engagement on their posts, that’s often a sign of a fake following.

Safe Payment Practices

Safe payment habits are among the most effective ways to reduce your risk of experiencing e-commerce fraud. Here are some best practices to stay safe:

• Use protected payment methods: Credit cards and payment services like PayPal offer stronger buyer protections than peer-to-peer apps often do. Make sure the payment method you use has protections in place before spending money at a new retailer.
• Enable transaction alerts: Most banks and credit card issuers offer real-time transaction notifications. Turn these on so you know the moment an unauthorized charge hits your account. The faster you catch these transactions, the easier it is to reverse them.
• Avoid public Wi-Fi for purchases: Public Wi-Fi networks in coffee shops, airports, and hotels are unsecured and easier for bad actors to exploit. When you complete a purchase over public Wi-Fi, your payment information and login credentials are exposed to interception. Use your mobile data connection or a trusted VPN instead.

Your payment method matters as much as the seller you choose. Treating both as habits (rather than one-time checks) adds a second layer of protection to your online transactions, just in case a bad actor or a fraudulent site slips through.

How To Protect Your Accounts From Fraud

Account security is an ongoing process, not a one-time check. You’ll become more resilient to fraud by following these best practices:​

• Practice strong password hygiene: Never reuse the same password across multiple accounts. Otherwise, a scammer only needs to hack one account to gain access to the rest. Also, use complex passwords for all essential accounts, storing them in a password manager if you need help remembering them.
• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA): MFA adds a second layer of protection beyond your login credentials. Make sure it's active on all payment-related accounts. That way, even if a scammer steals your login credentials, they’d still need to get a one-time code from your phone or authentication app before gaining access.
• Monitor account activity: Review your bank and credit card statements regularly to watch for fraud. Many unauthorized charges start with a small test transaction. If you dispute these early enough, you can avoid larger damages.

Scammers count on inattention. The less frequently you audit your accounts and update credentials, the wider the window of opportunity for hackers.

What To Do If You Suspect a Scam

If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, acting quickly and methodically can limit the damage significantly. Here’s what to do if something feels off:

• Act quickly: Time is your most valuable asset in fraud. Contact your bank or credit card issuer as soon as you’ve discovered the issue to freeze the card and dispute the charges. Reporting quickly can increase your odds of recovery and limit further losses.
• Report the scam: File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov to protect other consumers from falling victim to the same scam. You might also want to contact local law enforcement if you shopped on a local platform like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
• Protect yourself from follow-up scams: Once you’ve been targeted, you may be targeted again. Scammers often sell victim lists, and follow-up scams could pose as recovery services offering to help you reclaim lost funds. Be skeptical of unsolicited outreach following a fraud incident.

A scam doesn’t have to be a total loss. Consumers who act quickly and report through the right channels recover more often than those who don’t.

Shop Smarter and Stay Safe

The rise of AI-powered scams is a legitimate concern, but you can still shop online safely by following a few best practices. Understanding the red flags covered in this article and using secure payment practices will make you a much harder target and help keep your funds safe. Balancing confidence and caution is essential as scams grow more sophisticated.

About the Author

Anna Peck Content Marketing Manager at Clutch

Anna Peck is a content marketing manager at Clutch, where she crafts content on digital marketing, SEO, and public relations. In addition to editing and producing engaging B2B content, she plays a key role in Clutch’s awards program and contributed content efforts. Originally joining Clutch as part of the reviews team, she now focuses on developing SEO-driven content strategies that offer valuable insights to B2B buyers seeking the best service providers.

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