Facebook ad scams | What the Tech?

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — By now, we all know you can’t trust everything you see on Facebook and that goes for shopping ads they make money from.

Advertisements appear to show reputable companies marketing the products and deals.

For instance, we ran into a fake Vineyard Vines site. Huge discounts on expensive clothing, such as a $350 sportcoat for $70. That’s suspicious but the website shows a “Trusted Site” pop-up.

However, when you go to check out, they get your credit card information but you don’t get your bargain. They wreak havoc, instead.

There’s a simple way to detect a sale from a scam, though.

First, how are payments accepted? The scam site says you can pay by Paypal, which is a safer way to spend money online but there’s no option on the checkout page. It only wants your credit card information.

Does the site prompt you to act quickly? The fake site claims a limited supply and the number of people with the same item in their cart right now. The pressure to buy right now is a red flag.

To see for sure if a site is fake, copy the address and enter it into the WhoIs database. This shows information about who owns the site.

The database showed that Vineyard Vines site is owned by a company in China and was launched a few days before we searched.

So how do these scams keep appearing on your Facebook newsfeed? Facebook makes a great deal of money from sponsored ads and it’s criticized over and over again for dragging its feet on removing the sponsored ads.

It’s up to Facebook users to investigate and not click on a scam.