Tricky Magazine

Current verdict: RISKY CATEGORY, NOT EVERY STORE IS A SCAM. Facebook itself is a legitimate advertising platform, and many genuine businesses sell products after advertising there. The problem is that scammers also use Facebook ads to send shoppers to fake or misleading online stores, and recent government, consumer-protection and Meta data confirm that this is … Read more

When a suspicious seller, supposed government official, online investment adviser, tech-support agent, or new internet acquaintance suddenly asks for payment in Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum, or another cryptocurrency, the payment method itself deserves attention. That does not mean cryptocurrency is inherently fraudulent. Millions of legitimate transactions involve digital assets, and businesses, investors, developers, and ordinary consumers … Read more

UPI has made everyday payments remarkably convenient in India. A shop bill, rent payment, online order, or transfer to a friend can often be completed in seconds. That convenience is one reason fraudsters are interested in UPI as well, but there is an important distinction that tends to get lost in alarming social-media posts: many … Read more

A buyer sends you a PayPal screenshot showing that $450 has supposedly been transferred. The image has the PayPal logo, your name or email address, a transaction amount, a date, and sometimes even what appears to be a transaction ID. Seconds later, the buyer asks whether you can ship the item immediately because they need … Read more

Chargebacks were created as a consumer protection mechanism, not as a shortcut for getting free products or reversing purchases simply because someone changed their mind. When they work properly, they give cardholders a way to challenge unauthorized transactions, duplicate charges, undelivered purchases, and certain other billing problems. The trouble begins when that protection is manipulated, … Read more

A refund normally sounds like good news. You bought something that did not arrive, canceled a subscription, returned a product, or were charged incorrectly, and now someone says your money is coming back. That positive expectation is exactly what makes refund scams unusually effective. Unlike many fraud attempts, a refund scam does not always begin … Read more

Buying something online often ends with a deceptively simple choice: credit card or debit card. Both may carry the same Visa or Mastercard logo, both usually take only a few seconds to process, and from the shopper’s side the checkout experience can look almost identical. The difference becomes much more noticeable when something goes wrong. … Read more