Better Business Bureau warns of ‘card declined’ scam

SALT LAKE CITY — The Better Business Bureau is warning online shoppers of a new ‘card declined’ scam.

According to a press release, the scam falsely displays a message telling an online shopper that their card has been declined. 

Often, the links to the scam websites come through email, appearing to be a reputable retailer offering an offer for a discount or free item. 

When customers enter their card number for payment, the website says the card has not been accepted. The card declined scam message is intended to get users to put in other cards or re-enter their card numbers, per the BBB. 

At times, worried customers have contacted their bank to address the decline. That’s when they learned that they’d been scammed, as their card hadn’t actually been declined. Instead, it had been charged multiple times. 

Avoid falling for declined card scams, other deception 

The BBB offered advice for avoiding scams. 

First, they recommended to verify that you’re shopping on a legitimate website. 

Chase said you should check the website’s address for misspellings, the presence of ‘https’ at the front of the address, and uncommon domain endings.

It should be noted that the presence of ‘https’ in a website’s address does not guarantee a website it legitimate. It simply means that its protocol has been secured. 

Additionally, improper grammar and frequent misspellings are another giveaway that a website might not be legit. Chase said “it’s not wise to assume a language error is a company’s honest mistake.” 

The website’s contact and social media pages are also ways to check the legitimacy. Chase said that a legitimate company will provide a way for you to contact them. Ensure that the contact page is not redirecting you to another website, and examine the methods with which you can reach them. 

When looking into a company’s social media presence, Chase said to look out for the types of followers the page has. Do they appear to be actual users or bots? Also, scam accounts often contain vague content, shallow replies, and lots of emojis. 

Secondly, the BBB said to watch out for false ads, emails, and text messages. Similar to websites, they may contain grammatical errors and suspicious link. 

Never click on a link you did not request. 

Finally, the BBB advised that you use a credit card to complete online transactions. 

According to Experian, credit cards often come with an extra security feature. Purchase protection may help you get your money back if you do fall victim to a scam, or if you receive an item that is damaged or not what you expected. 

Related: Provo Power warns scammers are targeting specific customers