Hello, ‘Steve’
Many scammers have only a passing knowledge of English and firearms. Read the wording of the website. Is the sentence structure off? Do they use words not typically used in everyday speech? This can indicate they are using translation software and are a fake website.
Are the web pages incomplete? Do they have Latin text? Scammers often use WordPress to build a fake website and the default Latin text is supposed to be replaced by information about the store products. If you see Latin, it’s a red flag.
Go to the “About Us” page. Copy some of the text and do a Google search for an exact match on a different website. Scammers are lazy and often copy essential information from an actual website and paste it to their fake website. Some scammers even use the same word-for-word information on several counterfeit websites.
Do they have everything in inventory and at pre-pandemic prices? Huge red flag! Midway, Brownells, Bass Pro and other big-name players in the retail firearms market struggle to keep their shelves filled. It is nonsense to think a new online store will have unlimited quantities of primers, powder and firearms when the 800-lb. gorillas in the industry don’t.
Do they take PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay and BitCoin? As mentioned before, this is an enormous red flag. Sometimes, they state they usually take credit cards but currently can’t. Please don’t fall for it.
Do they insist on texting you and won’t accept a phone call? This is…
