Whenever something is in popular demand, you can be sure that there will be some fake websites pop up to scam people. For example, a while back my wife was doing all she could to find Ball Jar lids for her jars. She likes to can food, and with the bad cough going around, she was struggling to find certain parts.
We began to notice some websites popping up that we’d never heard of before with in-stock lids. Of course we checked on the websites and found that they were just scam sites that sent out fake lids to people that did not hold a seal.
In other instances, the goods were never even shipped to the customer. The store then closed down.
This has been on the rise lately with the gun industry. I’ve seen several reports of it on the Facebook gun group pages. Even SIG Sauer has something pinned on their homepage, which is the screenshot above.
That SIG thing is about a month old at the time of this writing.
I’ve even heard of some bad stuff happening on reputable websites, like Gun Broker. For example, a story I heard a few months back was about a customer buying 1,000 rounds of 9mm from a seller on the popular website.
The problem, is that the seller only sent about half, and claimed that the rest was sent even though they didn’t.
I don’t know the outcome of that story because I lost contact with the buyer, but they were pissed.
Protect yourself with these steps:
What I can say with absolute certainty, is that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. And, always do your due diligence when working with a seller of anything, especially guns.
If we bought the Ball Jar lids from the above mentioned company, we’d be out a few bucks and have some heartache. That’s it.
But what if I bought some “cheap bulk 223 ammo” from an online seller who never delivered? I’d be out a lot of money.
Some things to keep in mind:
The best thing you can do as of right now is only deal with reputable companies who have been around for a while, or at least have some reviews.
One of the first things I do whenever I’m shopping for anything online, is search the company’s name, along with the keyword “review.”
I’m looking to see if anyone has ever reported the company as a scammer/spammer, and then I’ll do my best to stay away from that company.
Never pay with PayPal friends and family, or other similar service, for someone you don’t know. Paying with goods and services allows you to cancel the order. Friends and family does not.
If you can pay with your bank or do an in person exchange with cash.
Conclusion:
Always do your due diligence when buying. If you’ve never heard of a company before, ask yourself why now? In other words, why are they coming out of the word work to do business right now?
Finally, a quick search on the company will tell you a lot.
