11 Signs You May Be Giving Your Credit Card To A Fake Website

Did you place an order on a fake website and get tricked into what originally looked like a great deal? Fashion is one of the most oversaturated niches out there and where there’s an audience, there’s a scammer ready to take your money. I’ve been shopping online for a hot minute, and I desperately want to share with you what tricks you should follow to avoid getting scammed when buying clothes online.

Fake websites are a dime a dozen and it’s maddening! You browse through a wonderland of beautiful outfits on Pinterest, but how do you know if the website they’re advertising is legit? What’s worse is some of these sites look like quality brands and the scammers are upping their game!

I have 11 tried and true tips that will aid you in avoiding these fake websites and keep your credit cards far away from the scammers!

This post is all about how to spot a fake website

Tip #1 The Fake Website Has A Wide Variety Of Models

This one is an easy one to spot if you pay attention. When a new collection comes out for a brand, they typically hire a small number of models for the clothing photoshoot. If you look at House of CB, Petal and Pup, Gingham and Heels, they all have a limited number of models who are showcasing the clothes. Meanwhile a scammer website has what looks like an unlimited number of various models because they’re stealing photos from a lot of different brands.

Tip #2 No Branding Can Be Found In Their Photos

One photo displays a model lounging at the beach, the next photo shows a model in poor lighting sitting in her bedroom, the next picture has no model and it’s just a white background and the featured dress. None of these photos look like they were taken by the same photographer and there’s no sense of branding amongst all of the product images.

Pro Tip: I exit the website as soon as I see a photo of a model taking a picture of herself in a mirror. This is a HUGE indicator of a fake website where the scammers stole a photo someone who may have posted on Instagram or some other form of social media.

Tip #3 EVERYTHING’s On Sale

It’s too good to be true! All 200 outfits on this site are on sale for 80% off?? Hold up -We have to back it up and think this one through. It’s not common a store puts EVERYTHING on sale for the same discount.

Most stores will sale ‘80% off on select products‘ or ‘up to 80% off’ and there are other items on the website that are still listed at full price. If name brand stores offered a blanket discount on everything then I could almost guarantee they would be in negative margin on some of their products. Name brands carefully consider the cost put into each item and then decide how low they can go and still earn money. But if a store is operating on a blanket sale of 80% off everything then there’s a chance it’s probably too good to be true.

Tip #4 Every Dress / Outfit Is The Same Price

We can apply the same logit as we did for tip 3 here as well. When I jump onto a site and I see every dress is $150 then I’m immediately get suspicious. This is because shorter dresses are going to be at a different price point compared to longer dresses. More embellished outfits should cost more than plain outfits. This lazy pricing method by fake websites is a plus for you when spotting a scammer.

Tip #5 Nothing Is Out Of Stock

This is a tip you can use to help see if your site might be legit. We can all agree businesses selling stock will have a moment where a product goes out of stock. But not for a fake website! For a scammer who never plans to send you the product, the item will always have unlimited quantity. You don’t have to live by this tip, but a good one to keep an eye out for.

Tip #6 No One Has Reviewed Their Clothes…Ever!

If I’m getting ‘fake website’ vibes, but I’m really, REALLY hopeful the site is legit I’ll go on the hunt for reviews. If you can find someone who has actually held the physical product in their hands, you have a higher chance the site is legit. Hopefully if you follow this tip, you’ll also be able to gage the quality of the clothing as well. ‘ll walk you through all the ways I look for reviews!

Places To Look For Reviews

Website showcases reviews: Easiest one to check! Look to see if the site allows negative reviews or at least photos where people can upload a picture of the product they received. Also, use the photos posted in the reviews as a guide to see if the quality of the fabric is actually worth it or not.
Youtube clothing hauls: By now influences have become a big part of business’s marketing strategies to advertise their products. It shouldn’t be hard to find clothing hauls or reviews online from someone who has already bought or been paid to showcase the product.
Instagram hack: Fake websites are good at creating Instagram accounts that have a lot of followers. The key here is to click on their ‘tagged’ section to see if someone has posted a photo of themselves wearing the outfit or product. If I find an Instagram account with 100K + followers, but not one person has tagged themselves wearing the product then I get suspicious.

Tip # 7 No One Resells The Products

I implement this tip if I’m getting ‘fake website’ vibes, but there’s a chance I feel they still may be legit. This isn’t my first go-to step, but it’s a useful one to have in the back of your mind.

If a company has been around as long as the about page claims to be then then chances are plenty of people have purchased from them by now. When people buy your clothes, it increases the probability someone will want to resell the clothes.

Whether the customer had buyer’s remorse, clearing out their closet, or in the business of reselling clothing, the point remains the same. Someone is probably going to try and resell the company’s outfit secondhand.

I pop over to sites that are known for reselling clothes, and I see if anyone has purchased from this company in the past. If I locate resold products from everyday people then I can deduct two pieces of information from their listing:

1.) I’ll actually receive a product when I purchase.

2.) I can view an unbiased image that showcases the quality of the clothing I’m actually going to receive from the company. We all hate making a purchase for a beautiful gown only to discover we received a dress that barely matches what was advertised to us.

My go-to sites to research into are Poshmark and Ebay, but I believe you could also check out sites like ThreadUp.

Tip #8 The Item Price Is Too Good To Be True

Unfortunately, due to fast fashion, we’ve become disconnected with how expensive it actually is to create a well-made dress / outfit. If you think the price is too good to be true, then the chances are it really is.

When I see a full length ballgown listed at $200 that has fine detailed embellishments, corset boning, and fine fabrics then I know it’s a scam. Dresses like that are in the $600 and up range. Accepting the ‘price is too good to be true’ mindset may save you from a lot of heartache in the long run.

Tip #9 Check Better Business Beaue Reviews

The Better Business Beau is a good indicator when determining if they’re a scam or the real deal. I do read the reviews on there to make sure the company didn’t just run into some hard to please customers.

Tip #10 Look For Rants On Reddit

Reddit is so your friend when it comes to hunting down fake websites! People will ask questions about the company you’re looking into and the comments are great! Just like the BBB, the commenters will describe their experience with the company and if they’re worth shopping there.

Tip #11 Review Their ‘About Page’

This is a new tip I’ve uncovered for myself. Some fake websites actually get lazy when designing their site because they’re trying to capture the easy money. Look up their about page in Google and see if more than one business has the EXACT same bio.

If you enter the message on their About Page into Google search does the results take you to multiple other websites with the exact same texts? Very, VERY sketchy to me and puts them on the radar!

Did You Uncover A Fake Website?

These are the tips I live by that have prevented me from making purchasing mistakes with scammers, but what about you? What tips do you use to avoid falling into the hands of fake websites with bad intentions? I’d love to hear your thoughts and learn your go-tos for staying safe online! 😉

You May Also Enjoy…

This post was all about how to spot a fake website