Online shopping offers real convenience, but it’s also a common scam target — fake stores, counterfeit goods, fraudulent “deals” built to steal your payment information. The good news: a handful of consistent habits can cut your risk dramatically while still letting you enjoy the convenience of shopping from home.
Shop From Websites You Know, or Verify Carefully Before Buying From New Ones
Stick to well-established, recognized retailers when you can — that alone eliminates most of the risk. Want to buy from a new or unfamiliar store? Take a few extra minutes to check it out first:
Search the store’s name along with “reviews” or “scam” to see what others have run into.
Look for a physical business address and real contact information, not just a contact form.
Check how long the site’s actually existed — very new websites offering deep discounts on popular items are a common scam pattern.
Be Skeptical of “Too Good to Be True” Deals
A genuinely popular, high-demand item priced dramatically lower than everywhere else is one of the most common scam bait tactics — designed to create urgency and short-circuit careful thinking. Deal seems unusually good? Verify the seller carefully before entering any payment information.
Use a Credit Card, Not a Debit Card, Wire Transfer, or Gift Card
Credit cards offer the strongest built-in protection for online purchases — federal law generally limits your liability for unauthorized charges, and card companies can often reverse fraudulent charges through a dispute process.
Debit cards pull directly from your bank account, meaning fraudulent charges hit more immediately while a dispute gets resolved, even though protections do exist.
Never pay for an online purchase with a gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency — legitimate retailers don’t require these methods, and scammers specifically ask for them because they’re difficult or impossible to reverse once sent.
Look for Secure Checkout Indicators
Before entering payment info, check that the address starts with “https” (not just “http”) and shows a padlock icon in the browser’s address bar, confirming the connection’s encrypted. This alone doesn’t guarantee the store itself is legitimate, but its absence on a checkout page is a clear warning sign.
Be Cautious With Marketplace and Social Media Sellers
Online marketplaces (Facebook Marketplace and similar) and social media ads connect you directly with individual sellers rather than established businesses, which carries more risk:
Avoid sending payment before receiving the item, whenever that’s possible.
Be wary of sellers pushing you to move the conversation to a different messaging app or pay through an unusual method.
For local in-person deals, meet somewhere safe and public if you can.
Watch for Fake Order and Delivery Scams
A common scam: a text or email claiming there’s a problem with a delivery, asking you to click a link and enter payment or personal information to “resolve” it. Expecting a delivery and get a message like this out of nowhere?
Don’t click the link.
Go directly to the retailer’s or carrier’s official website or app to check your order status.
Legitimate delivery issues almost always show up right in your order history on the retailer’s own site.
Keep Records of Your Purchases
Save order confirmations and receipts, and consider screenshotting the product listing at the time of purchase — useful documentation if you ever need to dispute a charge or report a problem later.
Set Up Purchase Alerts With Your Bank or Card Issuer
Many banks and card companies offer free real-time transaction alerts, sent by text or email each time a charge goes through. That lets you catch an unauthorized charge almost immediately, rather than stumbling on it weeks later while reviewing a statement.
What to Do If You Suspect You’ve Been Scammed While Shopping
Contact your card issuer right away to dispute the charge and explain what happened.
Cut off any further contact with the seller if things look suspicious.
Report the store or listing to whichever platform it was on, if applicable — a marketplace, social media, or search engine.
File a report with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
The Bottom Line
Safe online shopping comes down to a handful of consistent habits: sticking to verified sellers, paying with a credit card rather than untraceable methods, and pausing to double-check anything that feels unusually urgent or too good to be true. These simple checks take only a moment but meaningfully cut the risk of a costly mistake.
Note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. If you believe you’ve been the victim of an online shopping scam, contact your card issuer immediately.