KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — With the baby food section of grocery store shelves nearly empty, the shortage of baby formula has forced frustrated parents to search social media for enough supplies to feed their children. Their desperation is now a target for scammers seeking to take advantage of the nationwide shortage.
A Federal Trade Commission bulletin warns: “Scammers exploiting the high demand for baby formula have sunk to new lows by making fake websites using product images and logos of household-name formula brands, all to make you think you’re buying products from the company’s official website.”
“So, they are just putting pictures of formula out there on social media. They’re trying to get people’s attention with the cans so you can pay them and hopefully get the formula. But, the formula doesn’t exits, it is never going to happen,” said Tony Binkley, president of the Better Business Bureau of Greater East Tennessee.
Binkley said the bureau has been fielding complaints from parents who were victims of formula scams online.
“We’ve been seeing complaints coming in from around the country and Canada. It is happening because scammers are taking advantage of whatever they can, if there is an emergency they’re going to create a hyper emergency to try to get you to do that,” Binkley said.
Experts said scammers can appear legitimate,…
