Scammers Using Fake Shopping Sites, Taking Advantage Of Supply Chain Issues

(CBS) - As supply chain issues disrupt the holiday shopping season, scammers are making things worse by taking advantage of those challenges with fake websites.

A new Bankrate survey found that 77% of American adults reported having product-related shopping problems, with nearly half of those for items that were either out of stock or back ordered. Scammers are aware of those issues as they, too, approach their big season.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions CEO Haywood Talcove said the company has seen a 2,000% increase in consumers who say they've lost money to scammers posing as legitimate online retailers. The increase, which he said is driven by the ongoing supply chain issues, equals over 5,000 fake sites, up from just 100 or so earlier this year.

When you go to some of the big-box stores — whether it be Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy — they don't have the toy that you want in stock and then you google it. Then you find this really boutique company that is offering the bicycle that your daughter wants and you think, 'You know what? I'm going to get it,'" Talcove told CBS News' consumer investigative correspondent Anna Werner.

But the site turns out not to be a real company, he said.

"It's a front for a transnational criminal group," Talcove said.

Iowa high school senior Jayce Leninger is among the victims. When the Billie Eilish fan decided to buy himself a birthday gift of some of the singer's new merchandise, he went on what looked like her bona fide website.

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