'Discount Sale' Bait Sunglasses Scam Sites on the Rise
Disappearing After Receiving Money and Shutting Down Sites
Be Suspicious If Discount Rates Are High or Access Is Induced via SNS
[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] "I almost got scammed because the price was too good to be true."
Office worker Kim Seong-hoon (31, pseudonym) recently saw an eye-catching sunglasses sale advertisement on Facebook. He needed sunglasses anyway, so he thought it was perfect and started browsing the products. When he confirmed that the sunglasses he wanted were offered at a very low price, he was about to enter his card information to make a payment but felt something was off. Out of caution, he searched online and found posts warning that people who purchased from this site had been scammed. It turned out to be a 'phishing scam site' targeting people like Kim.
Recently, the Korea Consumer Agency warned consumers about scam sites impersonating the famous sunglasses brand 'Ray-Ban.' Now, another site has appeared using a different famous brand as bait. In fact, the main page of this site closely resembled the official homepage of the brand. It used the official website’s fonts and design, making it hard to distinguish at first glance. Sunglasses from this brand, which normally sell for 250,000 to 300,000 KRW, were all listed here for $39.99 (about 45,800 KRW).
The site frequently changes its URL to continue operating. When victims make payments, the delivery is repeatedly delayed, and then the original site is shut down and a similar site is launched again.
The main access routes to these sites are social networking services (SNS). Facebook uses a system called 'sponsored pages' that increases the exposure frequency of product sales pages linked to specific sites in exchange for advertising fees. Instagram operates a similar system. The problem is that there is no way to verify whether the sites registered on sponsored pages sell counterfeit goods or even actually exist. Most of these sites have servers overseas, making it difficult to recover money once scammed.
An official from the Korea Consumer Agency said, "If the discount rate is excessively high or if you are prompted to access a purchase page through SNS, you should be suspicious. To prevent damage, we recommend purchasing through the official homepage, and if you suspect a scam site, searching for user reviews can also be helpful."
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