Kristin Pellegrino is warning shoppers to trust their guts.
She’s one of 800 shoppers from across the country that Better Business Bureau says it's heard from who say they were tricked into a fake Bed Bath & Beyond online sale.
“I was like, ‘Wow, these are really great deals,’ and I kept adding to my cart and it almost seemed like a little bit too good to be true,” said Pellegrino.
Unfortunately, it was.
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The ad Pellegrino saw on social media led her to a fake storefront, where con artists are copying the fonts and logos from Bed Bath & Beyond, trying to replicate the legit site according to Better Business Bureau of CT.
“There was a lot of attention given to the fact that Bed Bath & Beyond was not going away, that it would still have an online presence. And so, what fraudsters did was create their own websites,” said Kristen Johnson with BBB of CT.
Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy in April and physical stores started closing shortly after that.
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But the store still has an online presence, after it was purchased by Overstock.com.
BBB says it's heard from victims that they’ve lost money to these fake online sales in a variety of ways, but lots of times they’ve been lured to these sites created by bad actors through social media ads like Pellegrino was.
Thankfully Pellegrino used her credit card for her purchase, which provided her the protection to get her money back.
She said, “When I did research after I paid, I realized they were scam artists and that I was not going to get the product. Use your gut people, be aware, know that the scams are out there and if something doesn’t feel right, just don’t do it.”
Bed Bath & Beyond says it’s aware of these scams and working to get these phony sites shut down.
Whatever you’re interested in buying online, use Pellegrino’s story as a reminder to take the time to do research before you trust a social media ad or click on a link.
Double-check the URL before you buy something.
Or better yet, go directly to the source of the store where you want to make a purchase.
