What is it
In our society today, the internet has enabled us to do so much. This includes communicating with people we know, dating, working and shopping online.However, the internet is prey to many scams and so is online shopping. Online shopping scams are now more common due to the excessive popularity of online shopping within our generation. In 2006, consumers lost $1.1 Billion due to online shopping scams. There are many forms of online shopping in which scammers use to try and steal online banking, credit and personal detail and/or money, for exmaple:
1. Scammers can trick consumers for their money by selling cheap products to steal your online banking, credit and personal details
2. Scammers can sell cheap products which are faulty
3. Scammers can sell you products which never arrive therefore resulting in a loss of money. To prevent this it is best to use a credit card as legally, credit companies must dispute charges of goods which are not received.
4. Scammers sell products which claim they can do something ,however, after it is bought it does not live up to its claims. for example, you could buy a weight loss pill which claims to help you lose 10kg in a month, but after buying this product, you see that this is not the case.
5.Scammers try to steer you away from the original online auction website, so that it is hard for the website to detect scamming. Then, the scammer admits that you have won an auction, you pay for the product but after that you will not see your money again
6.Scammers attract you by saying you can claim free gifts by answering simple questions. However, this free gift then tells you to purchase 5 of their products and convince others to do the same then you will get an iPod.
7. Scammers could scam you through gift cards by stealing your online banking, credit and personal details and by receiving your money and not giving you the gift card.
How to tell what it is
The photo is a perfect example of number 6 on the list above.
Usually for online shopping scams, scams could be concealed as products selling at a really cheap price. The seller would get bad ratings if it is a scam so make sure your seller has good ratings before buying off him/her.Also, make sure you have enough information about contact details, terms and conditions, privacy within the seller before buying. If not enough of this information is displayed, it may be a scam. You can tell something is a scam when the seller insists on paying immediately or selling a product off the original website. 
How to prevent this
To prevent trapping yourself in an online shopping scam by:
1. Making sure everything is legitimate
2. Reading terms and conditions carefully before purchasing
3. Using common sense-if it is to good to be true it most likely is
4. Checking if the seller has good or bad selling history
We have interviewed Brendan who has fallen victim to an online shopping scam:
Interviewer: What happened?
Brendan: Well I was buying workout gear with my dad at the website 'Century Martial Art'. We purchased a grappling dummy for $179. We purchased it during November 2011 then we waited, and waited, and waited. Now it is August 2012 and it still hasn't come. We have been waiting for 10 months. Now we suspect it was a scam.
Interviewer: Did you do anything about it?
Brendan: Well we tried but it wasn't very successful. We tried to get a receipt and tried to follow it but it didn't work. Come to think about it we should have gone to ACCC (for more information on the ACCC click on the websites and organisation page).
Interviewer: Do you regret it?
Brendan: Yes.
Interviewer: What would you do if you could do it again?
Brendan: I would have never gone on that website and I would have stopped going on it.
Interviewer: What would you tell people in the same situation as you?
Brendan: Be certain that the website you are shopping at is legitimate.
