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7 Ways to Avoid Online Shopping Scams in the Age of AI
Fake shopping websites with big discounts are just one red flag that a seller might be a scammer
AARP (Getty 2)
This may have happened to you: You’re browsing social media and an ad pops up touting a beautiful pair of boots, a cool gadget, jewelry — whatever the algorithm determines will appeal to you. With just a few clicks, you’ve purchased the product and it’s soon on its way to your door. Unless it’s not. You might never receive it, or receive something vaguely similar, but definitely not what you paid for.
“A lot of it starts with passive scrolling through social media. We all do it,” says Melanie McGovern, spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
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Many people keep payment information stored on their phone, so when they see an ad for that perfect scarf, “It’s easy to make a quick purchase without doing the due diligence — checking their website, BBB or investigating what the customer experience is with that company,” McGovern says.
Last year, more than half (54 percent) of Americans made holiday purchases through social media ads, up 10 percent from the previous year, according to Norton’s “2025 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Holiday,” based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers.
There’s a good chance that even more people will be clicking on those ads this year, notes Iskander Sanchez-Rola, director of AI and innovation for Norton. He adds that AI has made it stunningly easy for scammers to create extremely realistic-looking photos and videos that “even a year ago would look fake.”
Meanwhile, the Norton survey found that 38 percent of Americans plan to use AI tools like ChatGPT to help them with gift ideas this year (older people are far less likely to do so, however). The danger? Scammers have figured out how to code and position their bogus websites to appeal to the AI algorithm and show up in shoppers’ search results, says Sanchez-Rola, who explains that this is known as “AI content poisoning.”
As Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP Fraud Watch Network™, puts it, “(AI) technology takes every red flag out of the equation — perfect grammar and contact information among them.”
How common online shopping scams work
Here are some common ways that scammers try to steal shoppers’ money or personal information.
Fake shopping websites. “Right now, websites are so easy to make look professional,” says Jennifer Pitt, a cybersecurity and fraud analyst with Javelin.. Some faux e-stores are invented from whole cloth, but many mimic trusted retailers, with familiar logos and a URL that’s easily mistaken for the real thing. To get you there, “They’ll buy up every domain … that somebody could possibly mistype,” she adds.
Knockoff products. Some copycats do deliver merchandise — shoddy knockoffs worth less than even the “discount” price advertised as a once-in-a-lifetime deal on, say, designer watches or boots. More often, you’ll wait in vain for your purchase to arrive.
Card declined scams. This is a new scam criminals have cooked up, says McGovern. You order something, enter your card information, and you’re told that your card has been declined. If you put in information from another card to pay for the purchase, you’ll find that both cards have been charged.
Malware. You may have heard about scammers seeding phony sites, apps, or links in pop-up ads and email coupons with malware that infects your device and harvests personal information for use in identity theft.
Unfortunately, according to Pitt, the problem persists. “That’s why, as fraud professionals, we say ‘don’t visit a website you’re not familiar with.’ Anytime — even if you don’t provide information — you click on that link, you could essentially give a scammer access to your entire computer.”
Red flags
Prices are far below those of other retailers. Scammers tempt you with designer products at a fraction of their retail value.
Hard-to-get products are available. Everyone is sold out of this popular product, but they have it — often at a bargain-basement price.
They claim that you need to pay extra, citing tariffs as the reason. “Ask yourself, ‘Why am I asked to pay extra for tariffs if I’m buying something shipping from Florida?” says Sanchez-Rola. That’s not how tariffs work.
Reviews are consistently glowing. “Scammers have gotten really good at this. They’re creating very well thought-out reviews,” says Pitt.
Coupons and deals too good to be true. “Big discounts by text, email, social media and online ads just cannot be trusted,” says Stokes.
Shady payment options are offered. Sellers might demand payment by wire transfer, money order or gift cards. Legitimate retailers don’t want payment in these ways.
They’ve won every award. Be skeptical, too, of sites that claim to have won every major award, “that’s a huge red flag,” says Pitt. “Most companies don’t win best in everything.”
How to protect yourself
You don’t need to forgo the ease of online shopping, but take precautions to make sure you get what you pay for.
1. Go directly to trusted sites rather than through a search engine. Scammers can game search results to lead you astray, says Pitt. They also pay for placement, so their fake site may pop up at the top of search results. Avoid clicking on sites that say “sponsored” or “advertisement,” Pitt advises.
2. Research the retailer. Search for the name with terms such as “scam” or “complaint,” and check consumer safety sites such as the BBB’s Scam Tracker. McGovern suggests you also “search through social media to see if anybody’s talking about problems.”
3. Comparison shop. Find out how the major retailers are pricing the same product. “I had my own near miss when buying a replacement water filter for my fridge,” says Stokes, “I came across a site that sure looked legit, and the price was only $39. It usually costs $55 on Amazon. So I did a little digging and sure enough, it seemed to be a scam.”
4. Examine coupon offers. If the spacing is off, you notice a lot of letters and numbers in the sender’s email address, or if it’s coming from a free email domain, that coupon may not be real, says McGovern.
5. Carefully read policies. Make sure you understand exchange and return policies. “If you have questions, reputable retailers will answer them,” says McGovern.
6. Protect your personal information. Don’t provide more information than a retailer needs. That should be only your billing information and the shipping address.
7. Pay with a credit card. Credit cards have more consumer protections than debit cards and, certainly, the untraceable payment methods noted above and favored by criminals (gift cards, crypto ATMs).
How to report scams
Report the theft to local law enforcement, as well as the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The more information authorities have, the better they can identify patterns, link cases and ultimately catch the criminals.
Contact your bank to see if they can stop payment and place any necessary fraud alerts on your account.
Call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline (877-908-3360) to speak with trained specialists who can provide support and guidance on what to do next and how to avoid scams in the future. The AARP Fraud Watch Network also offers free online group support sessions for scam victims.
This story, originally published in 2019, has been rewritten, and advice from experts has been added.
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