New Pew Data Reveals How Common Online Shopping Scams Are — and How to Avoid Them

If you’ve ever clicked a too-good-to-be-true deal, only to realize later that the site was fake or the product never arrived, you’re far from alone. A new study from the Pew Research Center found that about one in three American adults say they have experienced an online shopping scam. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, scammers are stepping up their efforts. Here’s what the data tells us and, more importantly, how you can protect your money.

What Happened

Pew surveyed U.S. adults in November 2025 and discovered that 33% of respondents reported being the victim of at least one online shopping scam. The numbers were highest among younger adults (18–29) and those with higher household incomes—groups that tend to shop online more frequently. The most common types of scams included:

  • Fake websites that mimic well-known retailers.
  • Phishing emails posing as shipping notifications or order confirmations.
  • Social media ads for products that either don’t exist or turn out to be poor quality knockoffs.

These findings align with Federal Trade Commission data: in 2023, the FTC received over 2.4 million fraud reports, with online shopping scams being the most frequently reported category.

Pew also noted that many scams go unreported because people either don’t realize they’ve been duped until it’s too late, or they feel embarrassed. But there’s no shame in being tricked by a slick fake site—scammers spend a lot of effort making their pages look legitimate.

Why It Matters

The holiday shopping season is prime time for scammers. People are busier, more distracted, and eager for bargains. Scammers exploit that urgency with fake “doorbuster” deals, bogus inventory alerts, and phony free-shipping offers. A single click on a malicious link can drain your bank account or lead to identity theft.

Beyond the immediate financial loss, being scammed can mean weeks of dealing with your bank, credit card company, and credit bureaus to reverse charges and recover your identity. According to the FTC, the median amount lost in online shopping scams was about $140 in 2023—but people who lost money to fake business impostors reported a median loss of $1,000. Not a small hit.

The good news: many scams are preventable once you know what to look for.

What Readers Can Do

Here’s a practical checklist for safer online shopping, especially this holiday season.

Before you buy

  • Use a credit card instead of a debit card. Credit cards offer stronger fraud protection, and you can dispute charges more easily. Debit cards pull money directly from your account, making it harder to get back.
  • Verify the seller. If you’re shopping on a site you don’t know, search for reviews. Look for the company’s physical address and phone number. If a brand claims to have a physical store, check Google Maps to see if it exists.
  • Check the URL carefully. Scammers use slight misspellings (like “amaz0n.com” or “walmart-offers.com”) or odd domain endings (.xyz, .top). Only shop on official, well-known domains.
  • Look for red flags in the ad. Deals that seem impossibly cheap (e.g., a $200 iPad for $30) are almost always scams. Also watch for typos and poor grammar—scammers often copy-paste text from other sites without proofreading.
  • Pay with a service that offers buyer protection. PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay have dispute resolution processes. Avoid wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency—those are almost irreversible.

After you buy

  • Monitor your bank and credit card statements. Set up alerts for transactions over a small amount. Check your email for weird order confirmations you didn’t initiate.
  • Enable two-factor authentication on your email and shopping accounts. That way, even if a scammer gets your password, they can’t log in without a second code.
  • Beware of “phishing” follow-ups. Scammers sometimes send fake “order shipped” emails weeks later, trying to get you to click a link to “track” a package you didn’t order. Don’t click—go directly to the retailer’s site instead.

If you fall victim

  1. Contact your bank or credit card issuer immediately to report the fraud and request a chargeback.
  2. Change passwords for any accounts you used on the scam site. If you reused that password elsewhere, change those too.
  3. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your report helps them track trends and shut down scammers.
  4. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports (contact one of the three bureaus: Experian, Equifax, TransUnion). This is especially important if you entered sensitive information like your Social Security number.
  5. Monitor your credit reports for the next several months via AnnualCreditReport.com (free weekly reports until the end of 2026).

Sources

  • Pew Research Center, “About 1 in 3 Americans say they experienced an online shopping scam,” November 2025.
  • Federal Trade Commission, “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2023,” February 2024.