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Safest ways to shop in the sales
Essential tips to avoid being scammed when you're shopping online on Boxing Day and beyond
If you’re planning to bag a bargain in the sales, don’t forget that you could be a cybercriminal's next target. So how can you avoid being scammed?
Report Fraud – the main reporting body for UK scams, formerly known as Action Fraud – clocked 58,434 incidents of online shopping and auction fraud with total losses of £61.8m in the past 13 months.
Many incidents go unreported, so the true figures are likely to be much higher.
Here, we run down the most common online shopping scams you could encounter and tell you how to avoid them.
Copycat and fake shopping websites
It’s shockingly easy to create fake websites, as fraudsters sell and trade ‘phishing kits’ to steal the content and images from websites of genuine retailers.
They promote these fakes by paying to advertise on search engines and social media, or sending out mass emails, perhaps pretending it's a limited-time offer to rush you into buying.
Some will even pretend that their goods are endorsed by famous faces, such as the investors from Dragons' Den or TV presenter Holly Willoughby, to lure you in.
Which? recently warned that scammers had bought Google ads to con shoppers with a fake Costco website, for example. Scammers also use AI-generated content to trick you into buying non-existent stock or cheap knock-offs.
- Find out more: how to spot a fake website
Online marketplace scams
Which? has found that scams are rife on second-hand marketplaces so be cautious, particularly if you're on the hunt for expensive goods.
Classic red flags include generic photos and descriptions of the goods, suspiciously low prices and sellers who refuse to answer your questions or ask you to pay outside of the platform.
Rogue marketplace sellers are behind most authorised push payment (APP) purchase scams, where victims are tricked into making bank transfers to criminals.
UK Finance says that there were more than 80,000 purchase scams reported to banks in the first half of 2025, and losses reached £53m - the highest point since the industry began collecting this data.
- Find out more: online marketplaces – what you need to know
Fake delivery texts
Don’t let your guard down when you’re expecting a package to be delivered, as fake text messages from scammers posing as delivery companies such as Royal Mail and DHL are one of the most common phishing scams around.
Texts usually claim that your parcel can’t be delivered until you click the link and pay a small fee. You’ll be linked to a convincing copycat website requesting payment details.
A particularly nasty twist on this scam is when a second scam attempt impersonates your bank’s fraud team on the phone to trick you into giving them security codes or moving your money to a ‘safe account’ that they control.
If you receive a suspicious text, forward it to 7726 – which spells out the word 'SPAM' on a keypad – so that your mobile phone operator can investigate it.
- Find out more: WhatsApp delivery scams explained
5 questions to help you avoid shopping scams
Sticking to established, trusted retailers is your safest bet, but if you do decide to try a new website or a marketplace seller, ask yourself these questions and follow our tips to stay safe.
- Is the price too low? An unusually low price is obviously tempting, but it’s an easy way for scammers to get your attention. Check listings for the same item, to get a feel for average prices and assume the worst if it’s considerably cheaper.
- Is the seller suspicious? New and blank profiles with no profile pictures, limited personal information and few ratings are a red flag. Check for stock photos, which feature in many scams, using reverse image tools such as Google Lens and TinEye. A second-hand marketplace seller should be able to show you a photo of the item’s condition.
- Is the website suspicious? Take time to scan the whole URL, working backwards from the end, every time you’re browsing. If it doesn’t match the content promised, or contains mis-spellings such as amzaon.com, it’s likely to be malicious. Use ICANN Lookup to find out when the website was first created – if it was created recently, it could be a sign of a scam.
- Who wants you to click that link? Avoid clicking on links in emails, messages or on social media. If you know what you’re looking for, go ‘the long way round’ and type the URL directly into the address bar of your chosen browser.
- Is it a safe way to pay? It’s a red flag if a seller asks you to send them money by bank transfer, gift card or PayPal Friends and Family. Credit cards offer the best purchase protection for goods costing over £100, though you can still try chargeback for lower-value purchases and debit card payments. You should never enter card details or other sensitive data on non-https pages.
If you think you've paid money to a scammer, report this to your bank and Report Fraud.
You may be able to get your money back through chargeback or Section 75, and Which? has a free tool to help you make a claim.
If you sent money directly from your bank, you can make a claim under the authorised push payment (APP) fraud reimbursement scheme.
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