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Peachtree City victim warns of fake retail site
Peachtree City resident Nick Saunders describes how a fraudulent link at the top of web search results led to $16,000 in fake charges. Scammers cloned a major retail store using a bogus domain name to harvest card details.
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. - A Peachtree City couple shopping online for their daughter's birthday present fell victim to a sophisticated search engine scam that resulted in thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges.
Investigating the fraudulent website
What we know:
Nick Saunders thought he was buying a Barbie DreamHouse on Wayfair.com for his daughter, Blythe. Instead, a Google search led him to a bogus lookalike site that was among the top retailers listed.
Scammers captured his credit card information and charged $16,000 in purchases for Amazon Web Services.
Searching for the scammers
What we don't know:
It is currently unclear who operates the fake retail website or if authorities have identified any suspects in the theft. It is also unknown how many other shoppers may have fallen victim to the same trap while searching for toys online.
The bank dispute
The backstory:
The family's bank shut the card down but refused to pay for the error for months. Josie Saunders noted the financial strain occurred just as they were preparing for back-to-school expenses and their son's birthday.
"All summer long we were really panicked," she said. Last week, the bank finally said they would foot the bill for the bogus charges.
Google search warnings
Why you should care:
Bogus sites are reportedly showing up in the top tier of Google searches, tricking buyers into thinking they are clicking on legitimate retailers. Nick Saunders admitted he assumed the first few links would be high-traffic, trusted sites.
"And so when I see Wayfair like in the thumbnail and the price is good, it shows on sale, I didn't think twice about it and we just, we clicked on it," he said.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from an interview with Peachtree City residents Nick and Josie Saunders, as well as reporting from FOX 5 News and Doug Evans.