Qatar Living Website

How to spot scam websites & social media accounts in Qatar

The occurrence of online scams are increasing day by day due to the influence of the internet in our daily life. On the internet there are fraudsters making all kinds of claims to trap victims online - from fake investment opportunities to online stores - and the internet allows them to operate from any part of the world with anonymity. The ability to spot online scams is an important skill to have as the virtual world is increasingly becoming an important part of our life. Listed below are top ways to recognize a scam on the internet:

Shipping Services Scam

A new scheme has entered the market where scammers use the name of authentic websites (for example, QatarLiving) to create a scam website offering shipping services. First, scammers locate your advertisment on the legitimate website and then create a fake reciept and shipping policy page shared via WhatsApp images. Beware that all of it is fake as QatarLiving DOES NOT provide shipping services.

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‘’Too good to be true’’ deals

If an online deal looks too good to be true, think twice and double-check things. The easiest way to do this is to simply check out the same product at competing websites (that you trust) or the market rate in your country. If the difference in prices is huge, it might be better to give them a call or check their customer service or buy the product offline (if available in your country). For example in the picture below, furniture shoppers are aware that the price of everything in the below image is not true.

Online Shopping Scam Websites

This is one of the most common scams that occur. Online shopping scam websites use a fake or low-quality online store usually under the name of a prominent business/company that offers similar service but scam-free!

Scammers create an illusion of trustworthiness through emails, customer service, replying back to your messages and taking your calls. After gaining your trust, they tend to ask your credit/debit card details to scam you in real time and for future unpermitted use. When you complete the payment process, and you never receive the product you bought and ask for a refund (which you won’t get), you will receive another email which will probably be the last email from scammers. For example, the email itself and all the links in the email are malicious.

Locate the ''contact us'' page & social media presence

If you don’t see multiple contact options (phone, email, live chat, or physical address) on the company website, then proceed with caution. Also, most legitimate companies have some social media presence and activity. If you see the social media icons on their website, click on each to check their social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more.

Double check the domain name

Scam websites tend to have domain names that are similar to a legit site in the area, to trick the user into thinking they are on that legit site. The name will have subtle changes that you may not even notice. Always double check the address bar to see if you have been redirected to the right website.

Beware of fake social media accounts

Scammers do not stop at websites, they even try to reach you via popular social media networks like Facebook and Instagram. Scammers create fake social media accounts of legitimate organizations and run their schemes using following scam techniques (which you should never agree to):

Send something that is “too good to be true”

Ask you to click on suspicious links

Pretend to be announcers of free giveaways

Ask you to share your credit/debit card or bank details.

Note: Qatarliving will never ask you to share your bank details or to register your information in a suspicious link, in case you have won a giveaway.

Mobile text messages

Scammers send fake text messages pretending to be legitimate organizations to trick you into giving them your personal information. Never click on the links attached, call or reply to the numbers mentioned in any of these messages.