Joseph Pisani
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2016 file photo, a person in Miami searches the internet for sales. Online shopping scams are on the rise as thieves look to take advantage of the increase in people shopping online during the pandemic. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) December 15, 2020 - 1:38 PM
NEW YORK - Ben Black bought what he thought was a well-priced drone online. But the drone never showed up, the site stopped responding to his emails and he never got his $100 back.
He was scammed.
âIâm pissed I got caught in it,â says Black, who lives in Westminster, Colorado.
Online scams increase as more people look to adopt a quarantine pet
According to the Better Business Bureau s data, more than $3 million dollars have been lost to pet scams in 2020. Author: Nixon Norman Updated: 3:09 PM EST December 14, 2020
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. They re projecting that over three million dollars will have been lost to pet scams over this COVID period. And that s a huge increase over prior years, said Tricia Pruitt, Regional Vice President for Cullman, Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan and Winston Counties, Better Business Bureau.
And according to the Better Business Bureau s Scam Tracker data, that s more than double the money lost to pet scams last year. Just last month, the Bureau reported 337 incidences of these scams, a major increase compared to the 77 incidences reported during the same month in 2019.