Courtesy: CHAT Newsroom

By Angela Kazmierczak

Fake Facebook ads fooling users; people out thousands of dollars

Feb 10, 2023 | 5:04 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Scrolling through, Facebook ads are always popping up.

But some of those ads are scams and are fooling users into thinking they are buying a legitimate product.

Many online shoppers have been purchasing watches, necklaces and even paddle boards, only to receive something of lesser value along with the fees.

Dennis Krueger, a webmaster at Memory Lane Computers, says that scammers often copy a company’s branding and images, and link it to their fake website. These fake online ads will look extremely credible and have a luring price tag.

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When someone orders one of their fake products, it never arrives.

Some people have lost hundreds, while others are out thousands of dollars.

Krueger says lots of the artwork from the website Etsy is being advertised in these fake Facebook ads.

But he has several tips for how to protect yourself from these Facebook scams.

“Do your research on the website, make sure there’s a contact, a legitimate address, and with the website, do a review – see if many people have been scammed. Maybe they haven’t been scammed. See what they say about the website,” said Krueger.

In addition, the Canadian Fraud Centre says to consider the marketplace of the product and not to trust extremely high or low prices.

In 2021, Canadians lost more than 21 million dollars to fake online sales.