AIBU - I Think I've just been scammed by a fake Seasalt webpage

Facebook has been a pain in the neck about this - they're just not getting rid of the scam posts, but I guess it's a case of whack a mole. My husband messaged me on Friday and said that Seasalt were closing some branches, so I googled it and only found a post from last week suggesting no such thing. I messaged him back and said that was weird and then he said he wondered if it was a scam.

And then yesterday I saw it too, and reported it to FB with a comment about getting their finger out and getting rid of it (while realising that it is whackamole).

As for the comment about it not breaking their community guidelines, how can a scam/misinformation post comply with them?

Come on though. If you think the first pic below (“Buy £50 to get 2 free gift” “Get 80% sale” and all the misaligned text) is the real Seasalt website (2nd pic), you probably shouldn’t be shopping online 🤦🏻‍♀️

I just fell for the Seasalt Facebook scam too, I can't believe it as I can usually spot a scam a mile off. Just woken and it popped up on FB, think I must still have been half asleep. Reported to the bank and hope that I get my money back.

Got sucked in by a Lucy and Yak one, but this time it was on Instagram. It was late, I was tired and had had a couple of drinks. Before I checked out my brimming basket it occurred to me to look on their official site, where that jumpsuit I love is still £70something, not £3! I realised then that something was amiss!

The thing is though, I just assumed that advertisers on Insta, Facebook or other such big sites would have to be in some way "legit" and fulfill certain criteria.
Apparently not. They'll take anyone's money. It's actually quite shocking.

@GingersOwner26 Comments saying it's a scam are rapidly deleted - adding an angry emoji cant be deleted by the ad's owner.

I marked it as scam a couple of times yesterday - comments have disappeared. Facebook only care about getting paid don't they?

I also reported 4 scams yesterday including this one. I think fraud and scams will turn out to be within community rules and not for the first time.

I've done that on two of these scammy posts tonight already

This shite keeps coming up on my Facebook - when you look closely at it you can tell that it's not Seasalt's official page they're linking to (I haven't clicked the actual links to the scammy pages) but a lot of people seem to be falling for it.

Anyone who's tried to purchase froma scam ad on Facebook: please check your texts, do you have one with a one time code for setting up Apple Pay? Sometimes these scam sites ask for an OTP, you get the text, you see the code and just enter it, but it is not the OTP for your purchase, it's one to allow setting up Apple Pay with your card details. This MUST be deleted before you change your card details otherwise the fraudsters could use your new card number as well, Apple Pay carries over automatically. So tell your bank and get them to make sure it is deleted.

There's another thread this evening where the poster is promoting this "sale" 🙄

Gosh thanks for highlighting this.
I have several things in basket but didnt complete sale

Another thing worth checking if you're not sure about a site is how long it's been registered. If it's not for long, there's a very good chance it's a scam. You can check by using whois.com and entering the domain name.

Here's the entry for seasaltscornwall.com - it was registered on the 16th May by Mat Bao which appears to be a legit Vietmanese tech company - and frankly it probably wasn't even registered by them most likely it was their details that were used!!

I saw the Lucy and Yak one. It wasn't very convincing because the picture was a screenshot from their TikTok... I reported it but I bet nothing gets done. I'm skeptical with everything on Facebook because every comments section seems to be full of scammers these days. Facebook seem to be doing fuck all about it.

Yes that's what I did today. In big capital letters.

When you see scam ads like this add an angry emoji. Facebook allows them to remove any scam warnings but not the angry faces. So if you see angry faces on an ad someone else thinks it is a scam.

Banks can be really unhelpful with this sort of scam. Cancel the payment card you used, more important to stop future, potentially bigger, problems than this amount.

Personally I think banks should have more liability and shouldnt make payments when they've been told firms are scammers. Ironically if you went mad and ordered over £100 worth you'd have more protection.

You can sometimes spot these scams by the returns policy and the use of a contact form for returns, not giving a proper address. If it's a Facebook ad assume it is a scam.

Have reported it so many times and Facebook says it is ok. Please just put scam or other rude comments.

I've reported the page again today. Loads of people tagging other people and looking forward to their non-existent purchases!

It is very sophisticated. so I did type the Seasalt website in and my browser suggested the 'false one' is the 'real one'..

I just saw a second 'this is a scam' post.. or else I might be in the same position as the opening poster

@Chloereid0712 phone the bank now and tell them to cancel the card. They're correct that as the payment is pending, they have to wait for it to show up to investigate. This is clearly a huge scam which sounds to be executed very 'well' in that images were stolen from Seasalt's genuine website and the whole shebang was very convincing with the padlock in the URL etc You should get your money refunded; the main thing is to get a new debit card as the scammers now have your details.

These are very sophisticated scams and the banks will be used to dealing with it.

Exactly what @SoupDragon said 🙄

Hi everyone ! I’ve been scammed too by the fake sea salt website and I’m struggling with what to do and really need some help. I ordered a few bits and i soon came to realise it was a scam after I had already purchased. I paid with a debit card wanting to dispute/cancel this transaction, they said I have to wait until it has gone through as it is still pending. What else can I do in the meantime to stop this, the bank really wasn’t much help at all. Thank you!

Hi everyone ! I’ve been scammed too by the fake sea salt website and I’m struggling with what to do and really need some help. I ordered a few bits and i soon came to realise it was a scam after I had already purchased. I paid with a debit card wanting to dispute/cancel this transaction, they said I have to wait until it has gone through as it is still pending. What else can I do in the meantime to stop this, the bank really wasn’t much help at all. Thank you!

DH spoke to someone at Lucy and Yak after we were all served one for them. They say they report to Insta/FB every time and get it taken down but it is like whack a mole. Another just pops up in its place. It's sad and must be so upsetting for the smaller companies just trying to get by.

I fell for it too and realised within half an hour what must have happened so rang the bank, cancelled the payment which was still in pending, cancelled my card and blocked the scammers.

I'd clicked on the website link, thought 'this is too good to be true', knew that I shouldn't follow through with a Facebook ad like this so I went to find the Seasalt website. What I didn't pick up on was that seasaltcornwalluk is not seasaltcornwall proper and I didn't notice and put the order through the scammer's site. The scam site appeared higher on my Google search than the real one, no doubt linked to the fact that I'd clicked the ad. I'm kicking myself.

I also rang Seasalt and they said they know about this and are trying to put a stop to it. Their own data has been lifted so the seasaltcornwalluk website looks like the real one. I wonder if, as soon as this scam became known, it would have made sense to put a warning out on their full customer email list. I know it wouldn't have reached everyone but it would have helped.

Their official Ebay outlet is really good, I bought 6 tunics from there recently for under £150. So much cheaper than in store.