Scams are booming: be careful when buying gifts online

2023-12-05 12:17:08

The state of Lower Austria and AK Lower Austria invited people to background discussions

St. Pölten (OTS) – When the days until Christmas start to run out, online fraudsters are booming. And they often have an easy time of it. It’s not just that more gifts are being bought online every year. In the hustle and bustle, fake shops and dubious providers are even less likely to be recognized. “That’s why we invited people to a media discussion on the topic of cybercrime today. Our goal is to make people aware of scams,” says Susanne Rosenkranz, Lower Austrian State Councilor for Consumer Protection. Through the “pro Consumerent” association – a cooperation between the state of Lower Austria and AK Niederösterreich – all Lower Austrians have access to the AK Niederösterreich’s extensive range of information and advice on consumer protection issues. When it comes to cybercrime, they particularly focus on education. “Prevention and education are the best protection to protect consumers from falling into the trap,” says AK Lower Austria President and ÖGB Lower Austria Chairman Markus Wieser.

A current study by the Austrian E-Commerce Quality Mark shows: 9 out of 10 will buy at least one Christmas present online this year. Half of those surveyed would even like to buy more than 50 percent of their gifts online. While a third of those surveyed invest several hours or days looking for gifts and often start at the beginning of November, 33 percent have to do it quickly: a maximum of 3 hours are planned for buying Christmas gifts online.

Typical scam

This plays into the hands of fraudsters. The less carefully online shops are checked for reliability, the quicker you end up with a fake shop. This person collects money – usually in advance – for the items ordered, but you wait in vain for the products to be delivered. Detecting fake shops is becoming increasingly difficult. Because they are being designed more and more professionally and are often difficult to recognize as such without a close look at the details.

Recognize fake shops: This is how it works

As part of a media discussion, consumer protection experts Isabella Mittelstrasser and Michael Dunkl provided information about why fake shops are so problematic and how they can be identified. They had helpful tips with them:

Check the imprint! The name, address and contact details of the company must be found there.
Check the payment options: Purchasing on account is particularly secure. If only payment in advance is offered, extreme skepticism is recommended.
Quality seals such as the Austrian E-Commerce Quality Mark provide good orientation. But be careful: Be sure to click on the quality seals displayed. If this opens a certificate, they are genuine. If not – hands off!

Practice recognizing scams

The media representatives then had the opportunity to test the fake shop simulator developed by the AK Niederösterreich in collaboration with the University of Vienna. This was financed from the funds of the AK future program. With this interactive tool, you can learn the characteristics that can be used to expose fake shops by experimenting on your own – without any risk.

Further information and the fake shop simulator to try out can be found at: