A Caithness singer has told how she was the victim of a Jo Malone advent calendar scam online.
The luxury advent calendar retails for around £350 and includes candles, cologne and toiletries.
So when Susan Dearness spotted a £30 Black Friday offer on Facebook, she couldn’t believe her luck.
Unfortunately, the deal was too good to be true – and despite feeling “embarrassed”, Susan wants to share her story so others are not left out of pocket.
Susan, who works at the Eight Doors Distillery near Thurso, said: “I’m embarrassed because I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid and naïve, but this is a warning to all my friends and family so you don’t make the same mistake I did.
“If you see posts from “Jo Malone” or “Jo Loves” on Facebook, either offering advent calendars worth £350 at £30, or offering last year’s advent calendars as a giveaway prize – it is a scam and I fell for them both!
“The companies doing these scams have nothing to do with Jo Malone or Jo Loves.
“At best, they take your money and details and you get nothing but at worst, you are involved in a subscription scam where they take money from your account every month and make it very difficult to cancel.
“Plus you could be targeted again by the same company under a different name or have your identity stolen.”
How does the Jo Malone advent calendar scam work?
Susan bought one calendar online earlier this month, and the other was part of what appeared to be a giveaway.
Both were advertised on Facebook, and took her to a different site to complete payment.
But when they failed to arrive, she realised her online bargains weren’t quite what they seemed.
Susan, who sings with Melvich Gaelic Choir, tried to contact the two companies – Womenstylishvane and Trueplay Digital- but got nowhere.
She eventually contacted her bank and was immediately put through to the fraud department, who dealt with both issues “swiftly and sympathetically”.
Susan continued: “The companies involved no longer have access to my account and any future attempts to take payment is now blocked.
“And hopefully I will get my money back too.”
‘If it’s too good to be true, it probably is’
After realising what happened, Susan searched on Facebook for more information and “found several posts from people like me who had been tricked”.
She added: “The same companies were involved each time. I wish I had checked this before the event not after.
“If you look them up on Trustpilot you can see that I’m not the only person who was taken in.
“The reviews are pretty shocking. I only lost about £50 but some people were conned out of hundreds so I got off lucky!
“I feel like such an idiot and I can’t believe that I fell for this.
“I need to remember that if something is too good to be true then it probably is.”
Consumer rights website Which? warned shoppers about the scam last month, and reported several fake adverts to Facebook.
Jo Malone told Which?: “This is not an authorised Jo Malone London offer.
“The only way to ensure that the products consumers purchase are authentic and safe is to purchase only from our authorised online or in-store retailers or directly from Jo Malone London. Lists of authorised retailers can be found on jomalone.co.uk‘.”
Womenstylishvane and Trueplay Digital have both been approached for comment.
How to avoid Facebook shopping scams
According to Which?:
- If an offer is too good to be true, the chances are it is. Watch out for any high-end or in-demand items being flogged at low prices.
- Browse the website – look out for bad spelling and grammar, as well as the absence of terms and conditions and contact details.
- Check the URL – if it’s not the brand’s official website, it could be a scam page.
- Check how long ago the website was created by using a domain checker such as who.is – a newly created website should raise suspicions.