Shortages in the supply of baby formula are leading new moms to find other ways of finding the much-needed item - and risking themselves to potential online scams. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is taking proactive measures to increase supply to help ease the shortage.
According to
the 2021 BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report, online
shopping scams are the riskiest. With the current supply issues on many items,
including formula, scammers are watching.
How it works
An ad, post, or
social media group posts they have baby formula available. The buyer contacts
the seller via chat or direct message, showing photos of the cans available.
The buyer makes a payment through a peer-to-peer platform such as PayPal (a BBB Accredited Business) or Venmo (a BBB Accredited Business),
but the formula never arrives.
Signs of a
potential online purchase scam include:
- Positive reviews on the website that have been
copied from honest sites or created by scammers. Be aware, some review
websites claim to be independent but are funded by scammers. Check BBB.org.
- No indication of a brick-and-mortar address or
the address shows on a Google map as a parking lot, residence, or
unrelated business than what is listed on the website.
- Misspellings, grammatical errors, or other
descriptive language that is inconsistent with the product.
- The seller advertises on a social media site and
is communicative until the payment is made. Once the payment clears, they
are unreachable.
Check out the
website before making a purchase:
- Visit BBB.org to check a business’s rating and
BBB accreditation status. Impostors have been known to copy the BBB seal.
If it is real, clicking on the seal will lead to the company’s BBB profile
on BBB.org - check the domain of the
URL.
- Conduct an internet search with the company name
and the word “scam.” This may locate other complaints about the
site.
- Make a note of the website where the order is
placed. Take a screenshot of the item ordered, in case the website
disappears, or a different item is received in the mail than what was
advertised.
- Credit cards often provide more protection
against fraud than other payment methods.
- Think before you click. Be
especially cautious about email solicitations and online ads on social media sites.
Report suspected
online shopping fraud to:
- Better Business Bureau -
file a complaint at BBB.org or report a scam at BBB.org/scamtracker.
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) -
file a complaint at reportfraud.ftc.gov or call
877-FTC-Help.
- National Intellectual Property Rights
Coordination Center - report intellectual property and
counterfeiting violations to iprcenter.gov/referral/view.
- Internet Crime Complaint enter (IC3) -
file a complaint at ic3.gov/complaint.
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre -
file a report at antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or
call 1-888-495-8501.
- Facebook – report ads that violate
Facebooks policies by clicking the *** next to an ad to go to facebook.com/business/help.
- Instagram - report copyright
infringement or other policy violations at help.instagram.com.
- Amazon – report suspicious
activities and webpages at Amazon.com.
- Google – report scams at Google.com.
- PayPal - call (888) 221-1161 to
speak with a live person instead of using an automated system if you
receive an item that is not as advertised.
- Credit card company -
Call the phone number on the back of the credit card to report the fraud
and request a refund.
For more information
- See BBB's online shopping resource page.
- Read more tips for shopping online.
- Visit our consumer HQ
