When a deal seems too good to be true, it often is – but that doesn't stop many from falling for the cruel scams.
They one thing they all have in common is that they play on the trusted nature of shops and friends. Many usually spread through social media, with friends making it seem more legit. But they are scams and shoppers should be aware. Even the shoppers who want clothes from ASOS can find themselves at risk.
In only the past week there have been a string of scams that have surfaced with all trying to trick shoppers, the Cambridge News reports.
These unwitting customers could find themselves a victim of the scams. These can cause disappointment to those with vouchers or gift cards.
To help make you aware of the scams out there, and to help you avoid them, we have listed some of the ones you need to know.
A scam from popular catalogue retailer Argos is one of the latest hoaxes to emerge.
The Mirror Online reports members of its Money team have recently been sent a message, which reads: "Dear shopper, There is (1) package waiting for you! Check here >>," followed by the URL to their scam site.
The messages look like they are being sent by the retailer, so it is understandable people are falling for them.
By clicking through the link though, you end up be directed to a URL, which tries to encourage you to enter your details, by pretending to offer cheap iPhones.
One of the main dangers comes when shoppers who have brought something from Argos, as it will appear in a message thread along with genuine messages - perhaps from Christmas presents you bought from the shop.
Worse, once you click fraudsters might be able to collect personal information from your device by installing cookies on your phone that track you, or add browser extensions that can be used to show you advertisements.
This is a different type of a shopping scam – because it's based on a website that isn't normally used by the hoaxers.
It uses an advertisement on the website UK Mystery Shopper, and claims Aldi want mystery shoppers to visit local stores, and if selected they will get a &100 gift card to spend - totally free.
In the description for the advert it says: "We're looking for mystery shoppers to visit their local Aldi supermarket and if selected, you could receive a FREE &100 gift card to spend on anything you want in store." Sound too good to be true? That's because it is.
A spokeswoman for Aldi confirmed to the MirrorOnline it is not a legit advert. In a statement they said: "Aldi has confirmed that this opportunity isn’t genuine and is in no way connected to the business. "Please alert readers to the fact that this is not an Aldi opportunity."
For reference, Aldi does not send gift cards in such a way and never requests customers submit personal information via third party websites.
The website itself has also commented on the warning and insisted it has never claimed to be associated with the retailer.
A spokesperson, again speaking to our sister title Mirror Online said: "UK Mystery Shopper has never claimed that we are associated with or commissioned by Aldi and this is clearly specified on our site.
"Over many years we have distributed thousands of valuable mystery shopping opportunities to our members in exchange for their insightful reviews.
"These are published on our site. We offer a genuine opportunity for shoppers to be rewarded at their favourite stores through our review service."
This is one scam, which spread through Instagram, and while it doesn't involve users potentially losing money, it is a sneaky one which people need to be aware of.
Yesterday, accounts with names like @asosoffers appeared, offering free &100 ASOS giftcards to their first 50,000 followers.
All the followers supposedly then had to do to claim their voucher was to tag the respective 'offer account' in their Instagram stories. And more than 300,000 people fell for it.
The online retailer has now confirmed it was a scam and they had nothing to do with the accounts - which have since had their names changed.
An ASOS spokesperson tweeted: "We can confirm we have no connection to any ASOS offer accounts and are working to get rid of these. Our ASOS accounts have a blue verified tick next to them"
The reason why these type of accounts are made in the first place is believed to be so they can gain thousands of followers in a really short space of time and then when they've hit their target number they'll change the name to come more general.
