Speaking from experience if it’s too good to be true it typically is. Make sure that you do your research into the online retailer before making a purchase. Validate the site’s feedback and reputation online. This can be done through a very quick google search of either the shop name or contact email address associated with the shop.

I have seen the majority of fake sites being supported on the Shopify platform. Shopify does not police the sites for fake goods. The platform merely provides a conduit for the scammers to open multiple shops. These shops then close down once a transaction threshold has been met.

Statistically, you are more likely to fall foul of online fraud than not. A recent article produced by one of the leading cybersecurity vendors, Sophos, showed that there are FOUR times as many fake retailers than there are honest sites. Furthermore, UK Finance’s “Fraud The Facts 2019” publication quotes that the estimated total value for online fraud in 2018 was £265.1mill an increase of 29% against the findings from 2017.

Ensure that you have an audit trail – Keep all transactional email information from the shop, confirmation of purchases and any tracking correspondence