Fake Bed Bath & Beyond liquidation sales abound. Here’s how to spot one

Bed Bath & Beyond declared bankruptcy and closed its physical stores recently. A furniture and home furnishings e-retailer, Overstock.com, then acquired it, a BBB Accredited Business, which rebranded its website and mobile app to Bed Bath & Beyond in the U.S. in early August. Scammers are taking advantage of the significant changes by targeting unsuspecting consumers with fake “going out of business” sales. Here’s what you need to know to spot the scam.  

How this scam works

You see an online ad on social media for massively marked-down Bed Bath & Beyond products. It’s a going-out-of-business sale, and the prices are too reasonable. The website they direct you to looks legitimate, with the Bed Bath & Beyond logo and product information. However, a closer look at the domain name or email address reveals they need to add you to the official website.

Shoppers report making purchases and never receiving the products they ordered. Emails to the impostor company typically are waiting for a response. However, in some cases, the scammers reply only to state the product was accidentally delivered to another state – an issue they should take up with the United States Postal Service. The website was fake, and the discounted products never existed.

See the total Scam Alert for an example of this scam in action. 

How to avoid similar scams: 

• Always double-check the URL. Scammers love to build fake websites that look like the real thing. Often, the URL is only off by a letter or two. Take a moment to ensure you are on the official website by looking closely at the URL. Bed Bath & Beyond’s official websites are www.bedbathandbeyond.com in the U.S. and www.bedbathandbeyond.ca in Canada.
• Go directly to the official website instead of clicking on ad links. Con artists can make ads claiming legitimate businesses, but the link takes you to a completely different website. Look up deals featured in ads by typing the business’s URL directly in the browser bar instead of clicking through an ad. If you can’t find the special deal anywhere, the ad may have been a fake.

Read the full article for more tips. 

For more information

Avoid bogus bargains at going-out-of-business sales. For more ways to protect yourself from shopping scams, see BBB’s tips for smart shopping online. You can find more general advice in 10 steps to avoid scams.

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