Shopping and marketplace · Also called non-delivery scam, fake shop, cloned retailer site, social media shop scam
Fake online store and non-delivery
A fake online store scam is a website, social media shop, or advert that takes your money for goods it never sends. Scammers copy real retailers' logos and offer popular items at steep discounts, then stop replying, close the site, or send something worthless in place of the order.
How it works
- Scammers build a shop website, clone a real retailer's site, or post adverts on social media for popular or luxury items at low prices.
- Fake reviews, countdown timers, and a real company's logo make the shop look trustworthy.
- The buyer pays, sometimes by bank transfer, payment app, or crypto because card payment is said to be unavailable.
- The goods never arrive, or something cheap and different arrives, and the seller stops answering and the site disappears.
Red flags
- Name-brand goods are offered at prices far below every other seller.
- The site only accepts gift cards, wire transfers, payment apps, or cryptocurrency.
- The shop is new, has no clear contact details or returns policy, and its web address is slightly different from the brand's.
- Searching the shop's name with the words scam, review, or complaint turns up warnings from other buyers.
If you are targeted
- Stop contact and do not send more money, even if the seller asks for extra fees to release the order.
- If you paid by card, dispute the charge with your card issuer; for other methods, contact your bank or payment provider at once.
- Keep records of the website, adverts, order, payment, and all messages.
- Report it. Our Report a scam page lists where to report in your country, such as ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.
- Report the advert to the platform where you saw it.
Prevention
For individuals
- Search online for the shop's name plus scam, review, or complaint before you buy.
- Pay by credit card, which gives you the right to dispute a charge for goods you never received.
- Never buy from a seller that insists on gift cards, wire transfers, payment apps, or cryptocurrency.
For organisations
- Social media platforms can verify advertisers and remove shops reported for non-delivery.
- Brands can monitor for cloned websites and adverts that use their logo and have them taken down.
By the numbers
Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.
| Non-payment and non-delivery losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025 | $503.4M | US, 2025, FBI IC3 |
| Authorised push payment fraud losses in the UK in 2025 | £576.4M | GB, 2025, UK Finance |
Real cases
No documented case in the atlas yet. New cases are added as they are sourced.
Delivered through: Social media ads and posts, Malvertising and SEO poisoning
How official datasets classify it
- FBI IC3
- Non-Payment/Non-Delivery
- FTC
- Online Shopping
- UK Finance
- Purchase scam
- Scamwatch
- Buying and selling scams
Questions
- How do I know if an online store is fake?
- Search the shop's name with words like scam, review, or complaint, check that it has real contact details, and be suspicious of prices far below other sellers or requests to pay by gift card, wire, or crypto.
- Can I get my money back from a fake store?
- If you paid by credit card, you can dispute the charge for goods you never received. For bank transfers and payment apps, contact your provider immediately; recovery is harder.