Watch out for scam Facebook ads for bogus Jo Malone advent calendars
Which? has found seven active scam ads promoting the £350 Jo Malone advent calendar for around £30.
The official limited edition Jo Malone advent calendar retails for £350 and includes lotions, perfume, toiletries and candles.
This popular product launched at the end of September and scammers were unsurprisingly quick to imitate the brand with fraudulent adverts across Facebook.
Read on to see how this scam works and how to avoid falling for it.
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Jo Malone Facebook scam
The scam ads claim to be selling the advent calendar for a ridiculously low price of £30. One ad we saw included a promotional video of a customer unwrapping the calendar, which appears to be taken from the official Jo Malone adverts also circulating on Facebook.
Clues to look out for in these scam adverts are the bad spelling and grammar, and that the sellers use a random profile name unrelated to the Jo Malone brand.
We have reported all the scam adverts to Facebook, which removed them.
Scam shopping websites
Some of the adverts we found led to malicious websites phishing for personal details.
The scam sites include a countdown timer and notifications about purchases in ‘real time’, and list the number of advent calendars in stock. These are typical tactics used to make victims act under pressure, without taking the time to verify the authenticity of the information.
The URLs of the seven scam websites we found are:
- vruleil.com
- wcostisticmi.com
- dpreventiblemi.com
- lcusby.com
- xmyzeoustl.com
- oteachencebp.com
- scinerianmi.com
The websites also featured a lengthy product description, designed to appear genuine, and led to a payment page asking for name, address, email address, phone number and financial details.
We shared our findings with Jo Malone. The company told us: ‘This is not an authorised Jo Malone London offer. The only way to ensure that the products consumers purchase are authentic and safe is to purchase only from our authorised online or in-store retailers or directly from Jo Malone London. Lists of authorised retailers can be found on jomalone.co.uk'.
Avoiding and reporting shopping scams
If an offer is too good to be true, the chances are it is. Watch out for any high-end or in-demand items being flogged at low prices.
Here are a few more tips to avoid shopping scams:
- Browse the website – look out for bad spelling and grammar, as well as the absence of terms and conditions and contact details.
- Check the URL – if it’s not the brand’s official website, it could be a scam page.
- Check how long ago the website was created by using a domain checker such as who.is – a newly created website should raise suspicions.
To report a scam ad on Facebook, select the three-dot icon on the right-hand side of the page and press ‘report'. Scam websites, like these dodgy phishing websites, can be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre.
If you have ordered one of these advent calendars, contact your bank to notify them about the scam immediately. Do not be tempted to give the scammers any further details, even if they claim to be 'refunding ' you.
If you think you may have been scammed, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.
