Caller to BBB “I am upset. I got an email on Facebook about a really effective pill that helps lose weight. It had some great customer reviews, so I ordered it. I never received anything, and when I went back to the email address, it was gone. I lost $80 and I thought offers like this on Facebook were legitimate. Can you get my money back or get me the pills?”
Shelba at BBB: Ma’am, I’ve tried the email address and did searches on the internet. The offer was a scam. The pill doesn’t exist and we can’t locate the scammer who sent out those Facebook messages.
The Federal Trade Commission says that consumers in 2021 reported losing about $770 million to fraud initiated on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. This is about one fourth of all reported fraud losses for the year and an 18-fold increase from 2017.
Of those who reported losing money to fraud, more than 95,000 indicated that they were first contacted on social media.
The largest number of reports came from people who lost money to online shopping scams. Most of the reports about online shopping scams involved someone who ordered a product they saw marketed on social media that never arrived. Consumers who listed the social media platform where the undelivered products were marketed most often named Facebook or Instagram. Investment scams topped the list of total reported dollar losses, followed by romance scams.
Buying from unknown sellers based on a message on social media is dangerous. Try to limit who can see your posts and information on social media. Of course, all platforms collect information about you from your activities on social media, but review your privacy settings to set some restrictions.
Check if you can opt out of targeted advertising. Some platforms let you do that.
If you see urgent messages from a “friend” asking for money, stop. It could be a hacker behind that post pretending to be your friend. Phone your friend first.
Check out a company before you buy. Check www.BBB.org to see if we have complaints on them. Also go to Google and search for comments on the company.
Don’t deal with a vendor that requires payment by cryptocurrency, gift card, or wire transfer. That’s sure to be a scam.
If you have been cheated by a social media scam, file a report with the FBI at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Just Google “IC3.” And you should report the call to the BBB Scam Tracker web site so we can warn others.
