This week is Thanksgiving in the Unites States and Black Friday sales will be offering giant savings but, according to the Better Business Bureau, it will also be bringing out the scam artists.
The Bureau’s Manager for Community and Public Relations, Karla Laird was on the NL Morning News and said there will be big deals this year but warned about the potential for big rip-offs.
“There will be good opportunities out there, I’m sure, because businesses have taken a huge hit and so they want to pull consumers in but you also have watch out for those possible scams,” she said.
Asked about getting the good deals and not falling victim, she says be very careful with anything thing advertised on social media.
“Getting the good deals, I’d say the first place to start is knowing what you’re looking for. With that in mind, you have your items written down, you have your budget. I encourage you to stick with it as well and just be wary when you’re shopping around, when you’re doing your research, for those pop up adds, those social media adds, those sponsored adds,” Laird said.
“A lot of consumers who reached out to us say, ‘you know, I don’t know if it’s me but I just think of an item and within five minutes of scrolling through my social media feed I’m seeing the item in adds popping up.’ It’s just how this whole marketing technology works and so scammers are tapping into that as well.”
“So when you’re searching for your gift items, you want to be wary of anything that is on social media, anything that is popping up from a retailer that you don’t know about,” she added.
Laird says children’s items that are the most in demand are also most likely to a target for con artists, pointing to a very popular doll from the Star Wars Mandalorian series.
“The Baby Yoda, for those who don’t know that long version, so baby Yoda that talks, that moves, that makes sounds and is battery operated. That one has been really flying off the shelves and scammers have actually started putting out counterfeit versions of it,” she said.
“People think they’re getting Baby Yoda and end up getting very hideous puppets.”
As for how to best stay safe, Laird says it’s a good idea to stick to retailers you know.
“We always encourage that if you have retailers that you are familiar with, sign up for their email alerts, follow them of social media so that way you can get a head start on the deals that they may have available,” she noted.
She also points out the old adage that a bird in hand is with two in the bush “and if you do see something that you want and it is coming from a trustworthy source, get a head start and start making that purchase now because the last thing you want is to wait until Black Friday itself and then that item is out of stock.”
