Shopping Safety

Spotting Fake Prom Dress Websites: A Shopper’s Guide Prom season is here, and along with the excitement of finding the perfect dress comes a familiar risk: online shopping scams. Every year, scammers set up websites that look like legitimate dress retailers, offering too-good-to-be-true deals on formal wear. The Better Business Bureau recently issued an alert for shoppers in the Hudson Valley, warning that fake prom dress sites are circulating again. If you’re shopping for a prom or formal dress online, here’s what you need to know to avoid losing your money—and what to do if you’ve already been tricked. ...

How to Spot Fake Prom Dress Websites Before You Get Scammed Prom season is in full swing, and for many families that means searching for the perfect dress online. But the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has issued a warning that scammers are taking advantage of the rush, setting up fake websites that look legitimate but are designed to steal your money and personal information. An alert recently published by 101.5 WPDH detailed how these fraudulent sites are targeting shoppers in the Hudson Valley, though the problem is national. Here’s what you need to know to avoid getting taken. ...

One in Three Americans Has Been Hit by an Online Shopping Scam: How to Protect Yourself If you’ve ever bought something online that never arrived, or clicked a link in an email that turned out to be a fake storefront, you’re not alone. According to a Pew Research Center survey published in November 2025, about a third of Americans say they’ve had an online shopping scam happen to them. That’s 33 percent of U.S. adults—a figure that should give any regular online shopper pause. ...

Prom Dress Scams Are Real: How to Spot Fake Websites and Shop Safely Prom season brings excitement — and, unfortunately, an uptick in scam websites designed to look like legitimate dress retailers. The Better Business Bureau recently issued an alert warning shoppers in the Hudson Valley about fake prom dress sites, but this problem isn’t limited to one region. Scammers nationwide are setting up storefronts that take your money and deliver nothing — or a knockoff that looks nothing like the photo. ...

Fake Prom Dress Websites: How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams This Season Prom season is here, and with it comes the annual rush to find the perfect dress. But scammers are counting on that urgency. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently alerted shoppers in the Hudson Valley—and the warning applies nationwide—about fraudulent websites posing as prom dress retailers. These sites are designed to look legitimate, but they exist only to take your money and personal information. ...

1 in 3 Americans Have Been Scammed Online Shopping: Here’s How to Avoid It If you’ve ever bought something online that never arrived, or paid for a product that turned out to be counterfeit, you’re not alone. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, roughly one in three American adults (35 percent) say they have experienced an online shopping scam. That number is high enough that most of us either know someone affected or have been affected ourselves. And with more people buying through social media ads, unfamiliar websites, and peer‑to‑peer marketplaces, the risk isn’t going away. This article explains the most common scams and what you can do to avoid them. ...

One in Three Americans Has Been Scammed While Shopping Online: How to Stay Safe What Happened According to a November 2025 report from the Pew Research Center, about one in three U.S. adults say they have personally experienced an online shopping scam. That’s roughly 33% of Americans—a figure that underscores just how common these scams have become. The same survey found that younger adults, particularly those under 30, were even more likely to report being targeted, though no age group is immune. ...

How to Avoid Online Shopping Scams: What the Latest Pew Data Tells Us If you shop online, you’ve probably seen the warnings: fake websites, too-good-to-be-true deals, phishing emails disguised as order confirmations. But new data from the Pew Research Center, published in November 2025, puts a number on the scale of the problem. About one in three Americans say they have experienced an online shopping scam. That figure comes from a broader survey on online scams and attacks released in July 2025, but the shopping-specific finding was highlighted just as the holiday season kicked off. ...

1 in 3 Americans Hit by Online Shopping Scams: Here’s How to Avoid Being Next If you’ve ever clicked a too-good-to-be-true deal on social media and ended up with an empty package—or nothing at all—you’re far from alone. New research from Pew Research Center, released in November 2025, found that roughly one in three U.S. adults say they have experienced an online shopping scam. With the holiday shopping season now in full swing, that number might well climb unless we get better at spotting the traps before we fall in. ...

How to avoid online shopping scams: Practical tips to shop safely Online shopping has become part of daily life for most people, but it also attracts scammers looking to steal money and personal information. Government sources like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regularly issue reminders about staying safe while shopping online. The advice applies to anyone, not just veterans. This article covers the most common types of online shopping scams, why they continue to work, and what you can do to protect yourself. ...