It has been all over the news; baby formula shortages! Shortages in the supply of baby formula are leading new moms to search for other ways of finding this much-needed item — and risking that they may become a victim of online scams. We at BBB already know that scammers have started creating phony web sites to trick consumers into sending their money or credit card information.
How it works:
An ad, post, or social media group posts they have baby formula available. The new mom contacts the seller via chat or direct message and even sees photos of the cans available. She makes a payment through a peer-to-peer platform such as PayPal or Venmo, but the formula never arrives.
Signs of a potential online purchase scam include:
Positive reviews on the website that have been copied from honest sites or created by scammers. Be aware, some review websites claim to be independent but are funded by scammers. Check our website, BBB.org, to see if we have had experience with them.
They give no indication of a brick-and-mortar address, or the address they provide shows on a Google map as a parking lot, residence, or unrelated business than what is listed on the website.
Their web site or message to you has misspellings, grammatical errors, or other descriptive language that is inconsistent with the product. These people may be contacting you from…
